


Sweet Little Child of Mine

by Doragon_san



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alpha Catra (She-Ra), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Bullying, Children, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Omega Adora (She-Ra), Parent-Child Relationship, Parenthood, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24637348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doragon_san/pseuds/Doragon_san
Summary: Catra thought the hardest thing she'd ever done was to overcome her pride and do the right thing when it mattered the most. But it turns out being a parent is even harder.A story that takes place after the war which focuses on Catra and her daughter, who faces challenges she not only learns from, but Catra as well.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 335





	1. Shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra's daughter experiences getting bullied at school regarding her mom's past, so she talks about it with her.

Eight years after the war, Catra thought she was ready for anything. Ending an intergalactic empire that had withstood the test of time for thousands of years should make anyone feel like any other adversity was mundane in comparison. And with the love of her life at her side, as corny as that was to admit, she thought they were unstoppable. But apparently parenthood with a litter of kittens was more difficult than she thought.

It took a long time and years of patience and understanding from Adora and friends, but Catra gradually forgave herself for everything she'd done during her time with the Horde and the pain she inflicted on so many people. Still there were nights when she'd have nightmares about past guilt and the abuse she'd endure from Shadow Weaver, but they became less and less common as the years passed. And while Catra had her moments where she lost her temper, she was able to work on her anger issues through meditation exercises and conversations with Glimmer.

Catra never actually planned on having children but it sort of just happened, as it often does. She was an Alpha after all, and Adora was an Omega. Sex education in the Horde was basically non-existent, not that they needed to know much about it considering they took suppressants to keep their urges in check. Adora was able to learn a lot about their biology after she defected to the Rebellion, admittedly in very embarrassing ways in front of Glimmer and Bow. Thankfully they were quite understanding.

Catra, on the other hand, never learned about such things and was extremely confused when she experienced what's known as a rut shortly after the war ended. It didn't help that at the time Bow and Glimmer were out doing their own thing and left Adora to calm the distraught, horny cat by herself. It was then that Catra discovered this amazing thing called sex. She couldn't believe she had been missing out on it her entire life.

From there they pretty much went at it like rabbits but it always annoyed Catra that Adora would insist she wear this thing called a condom. Adora explained to her that the liquid that spilled out of her penis could get her pregnant so it was paramount that she wear a rubber to prevent that from happening. On some level Catra could understand where she was coming from but her Alpha instinct demanded her to ditch the condom, do her raw and plant her seed inside her. There were many times where she was tempted to slip off the condom during sex but it took all her self-restraint not to do so. That image of Adora with a swollen belly full of her kittens was incredibly tantalizing, though.

Ironically, it was Adora that asked to do it unprotected during one of her heats. With pure lust clouding Adora's mind at the time, she was practically begging for Catra to inseminate her and as an Alpha, there was no way she could refuse such a willing Omega. Soon afterwards Adora was expecting. Catra was, let's just say… terrified.

But when Adora pushed out all four of her kittens and Catra held them in her arms… everything was okay. Catra swelled with pride and vowed to give them childhoods she never had. One where they knew they were loved and never had to fight for her approval. One where they never had to fear rejection.

Nearly six years since their birth, Catra never anticipated some of the challenges ahead.

* * *

The door to little Sif's slammed loudly, reverberating throughout the house and startling Catra out of her nap. Half-asleep and half-alert, she rubbed her eyes and looked around, confused. She then walked towards the hallway where she could see only one door shut, her daughter Sif's.

Without hesitation, she opened the door only to get hissed at by her daughter. Sif always found it annoying that unlike her mother Adora, who always knocked before entering, her mom Catra just went right in without asking.

"Easy there…" Catra took a step back, trying to appear less intimidating. She could smell the anger on her daughter but underneath that, was sadness. "What's wrong, Sif?"

"Nothing's wrong, go away!" she snapped. Her tail thrashed in frustration, as if urging her to go away. Sif reminded Catra a lot like herself when she was younger, even besides the fact that she was a cat like her. Well, all her kids had cat-like features, but that's besides the point. Sif was the rowdiest among her other siblings, often getting into trouble and starting fights with the others. It made sense since she was the only Alpha of the four, and it wasn't unusual for them to act at least somewhat aggressive at a young age. But underneath all that, she was also the most sensitive. Just like Catra when she was a kid.

Catra slowly walked up to her daughter's bed, where she was curled up in the corner facing the wall. Catra had a stern expression. "You know I'm not going to leave here without an explanation. And you don't talk to your mom that way." Her face softened when she heard the faintest sniffle. She was crying.

"I hate school!" Sif yelled. "Everyone there are jerks…"

The catgirl sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. She fully knew what it was like to not get along with others. Hell, she spent most of her life pushing all her friends away. It pained her to see her daughter acting so similarly. "What happened?"

"They… they were saying things about you…" her little voice drifted off, and Sif's ears flattened even more than they already were, as if the memory hurt her even more.

"And what did they say about me?" Catra asked gently, genuinely curious.

"That… that you were a war criminal… that you did awful things during the war and… hurt a lot of people and… that I should pay for what you did..."

Ah. Catra understood. Even with this new era of peace on Etheria, she knew there were still some people who resented her and anyone who formerly fought for the Horde. Not everyone was as forgiving as Adora or Bow and Glimmer and the other princesses. Catra did everything she could to make reparations and apologize for the things done in her name, but for many who lost loved ones during the war, the wounds were still fresh. It didn't help either that some former Holde soldiers refused to apologize for what happened, citing the fact that they simply followed orders. It was actually a pretty big controversy, one that Catra tried to avoid if she could. Of course, the topic was bound to come up with her daughters some day since they were after all children of the Horde's former leader.

Catra moved up the bed and placed a comforting hand on Sif's shoulder. The little kitten looked up from her knees and Catra met her brilliant blue eyes, which she got from Adora. But it hurt Catra to see her daughter's eyes puffy and wet with tears.

"It's true that I did a lot of horrible things during the war. I made a lot of bad decisions that I regretted deeply and I would do anything to undo them… but I did change. I saved your aunt Glimmer and tried to be a good person for once. I helped your mother and our friends defeat Horde Prime and saved the universe. And when it was all over I helped bring back aunt Glimmer's mother. I know I can't bring back everyone that was lost during the war but I've done everything I can to make things right. It will never be enough, but that's something I have to deal with myself, it doesn't mean you're also a bad person just because you're my daughter."

Sif wiped her nose. She continued to stare at the wall as she took in what she said.

"Can you look at me, Sif?"

The little kitten hesitated, then barely turned her head towards Catra's direction.

"You are Sif, my daughter. You're not Catra, you're not me. You're your own person. There is no reason you should have to take the blame for what I did. You didn't do anything wrong. And you make sure those kids know that. And if they still won't listen, just remind them that your other mom is She-Ra. The most brave, heroic person in the universe. They wouldn't be here if not for her." Catra stroked Sif behind her ears, a gesture she knew always calmed her down. Her daughter glanced down trying to ignore it, but eventually gave in and started purring softly.

There would be many more moments like this to come. After all, being a parent wasn't easy. But Catra wanted to do her best anyway. She wanted her daughters to know she would always be there for them.

She saw so much of herself in Sif. A young Alpha that could easily be misguided to the wrong path if she didn't have a proper parent-figure. Catra didn't play favorites, she hated the idea after what Shadow Weaver had done to her and Adora, but as the only Alpha of her daughters, she made sure she would pay extra attention to that aspect of her personality so she could guide her to the right direction.

Catra always had a hard time overcoming her own guilt. But today, she learned there were some things one shouldn't be ashamed of.

Catra smiled. "Do you wanna go get some ice cream?"

Sif, still looking down, responded with a meek nod.

"Alright. Let's go get some."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was my first She-Ra fic... I hope it was okay. Since the Horde was imperialistic, I figured there might still be tension in the post-war era between everyone on Etheria and former Horde. Not unlike Imperial Japan after the war where even today many people haven't forgiven them for WW2. Well, I hope you enjoyed it.


	2. Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple weeks pass since Sif and Catra's conversation. Catra finds that she's in need of her own reconciliation.

_"We did it Catra…"_

_"Yeah… we did." Adora squeezed her hand gently and nuzzled her nose into Catra's warm fur._

_"We don't have to fight anymore. We can… we can have a normal life."_

_"Do you really think so?" The catgirl felt seeds of doubt within her. She didn't know what 'normal' was. Since she could remember, war, turmoil and struggle was all she ever knew. A life without all that was unthinkable._

_A firm hand on her shoulder jolted her out of her thoughts._

_"You are under arrest for the crimes you have committed against Etheria and its people."_

_"Wha--agh!" Out of nowhere, the Bright Moon General with her guards behind her seized her upwards and put her wrists in restraints._

_"Catra!" Adora called out. "What are you doing!?"_

_"She is a warmonger that must be put on trial for her crimes. She among many others will testify in our court to face the consequences of their actions." Catra, still struggling in her restraints, looked to Adora, terrified._

_"Wait!"_

"Aahh!" Catra woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard. With her heart pounding in her chest, she felt like she ran a marathon. It wasn't long before Adora began to stir beside her and sat up as well, slightly disoriented. She took her hand. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, voice filled with concern. 

Catra took a moment to regulate her breathing. "Yeah. I'm fine. I just had a bad dream." 

"Do you wanna talk about it?" 

She shook her head. "No, let's get back to sleep." 

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Don't worry." 

Adora nodded and kissed her cheek, laying back down. Catra did the same and closed her eyes, drifting back to a troubled sleep. 

* * *

Ever since the conversation she had with her daughter a few weeks back, Catra had been pondering about what happened eight years ago. The trial that she, Hordak, Entrapta, and Scorpia along with many other high ranking Horde officers had gone through to testify for their roles in the crimes committed during the war. Even despite the fact they changed allegiances and the princesses tried to vouch for them, increasing pressure from the angry citizens of the kingdoms who demanded justice eventually made Glimmer give in and arrange a trial so they could be tried. Adora of course was highly against it but she was lost out against the Queen's orders. So, she took it upon herself to act as their lawyer to speak on their behalf.

In the end, they all pleaded guilty for their crimes with Hordak and Catra taking the harshest sentences. Granted, Adora made a pretty compelling case for them so they wouldn't be outright thrown in prison. The two former top commanders were instead sentenced to a lifetime of community service until they rebuilt everything they destroyed and Hordak having the additional duty of being exiled to Beast Island to clean it up. Scorpia and Entrapta were sentenced to five years community service although not surprisingly, Entrapta opted to join Hordak on his exile to Beast Island. 

To this day Catra is still overwhelmingly grateful that she was given another chance, a chance that she firmly believed she didn't deserve. 

As she recalled those events years ago, Catra realized she hadn't visited her friends from the Horde in a while. She tried to hang out with Scorpia whenever she could, but lately she and Perfuma had their hands/claws full of baby scorpions. Last she heard from Hordak and Entrapta, the two were living far from the kingdom of Bright Moon in the countryside. Entrapta supposedly found it easier to conduct experiments without neighbors complaining about the noise. 

"Maybe I should go see them…" Catra mumbled out loud. After all they didn't have any kids so they shouldn't be too busy. She just needed to talk to someone who had been in the Horde with her since they'd be able to understand these thoughts in her head. So she decided to head to the kitchen where Adora was… _attempting_ to bake some pastries. She grimaced at the amount of ingredients plastered all over the wall and counters. 

"Hey Catra," Adora greeted, not taking her eyes off the bowl of dough she was mixing. 

"Hey Adora," Catra said. "I was thinking… when was the last time we talked to Entrapta and Hordak?" 

"Hmm… I think… about six months ago?"

Six months. So it's been a while. But not so long that it would be extremely bizarre to suddenly drop by. "Well I was thinking, why don't we pay them a visit? Like today? I don't have work, so." 

Adora hummed, thinking to herself. "I wanna go, but… I'm kind of in the middle of this. Why don't you take one of the kids with you? Sif's home."

Well, Sif was always home. Sif seemed perfectly content to stay in her room most days when she wasn't at school, reading her books. That, and whenever her other sisters were home she'd start fighting with them, so the others were often out doing their own thing. "Sure, I'll take her." 

"Great! I'm sure she could use a walk outside anyway. She doesn't really go out much."

Catra nodded and went over to Sif's room. When she opened the door, the room was pitch black and she was immediately hissed at. "What the…" Catra switched on the light and saw that Sif was bunched up underneath her blankets, only her tail visible swishing out from the covers. "Why do you have the lights off?" 

"Get out!" 

"Watch your tone," Catra warned. She sighed. This kitten really was a lot of trouble. "We're going to see aunt Entrapta and uncle Hordak." 

"I don't wanna go!" 

Now that Catra thought about it, while Entrapta and Hordak had seen Sif when she was a toddler, she probably doesn't remember them anymore. "Listen, you can't always stay in your room all day. You need to go outside every once in a while, get some fresh air. You're never gonna grow big if you don't stretch your legs out sometimes."

The little kitten peaked out her nose from under the covers. "I won't?" 

"Yeah, you'll be tiny forever if you don't go outside. You don't want that, do you?"

Her tail twitched. "No…"

"Then let's go." Catra crossed her arms expectantly. Slowly, Sif emerged from the blankets and slipped out of her bed. Catra smiled and rustled her fingers through Sif's light brown hair much to the little girl's annoyance. "Go get your stuff and we'll head out."

\---

Sif sulked nearly the entire way to the countryside. When they were about halfway to their destination, Catra tried to think of something to talk about. "So… how's school been? Those kids still giving you a hard time?" 

From the long moment of pause that followed, Catra could tell what the answer was. "I don't want to talk about it." 

She was about to prod her, but Catra stopped herself. _Patience is key_ , she thought, remembering when she used to be emotionally distant. She knew it didn't help to push someone who didn't want to open up. So, she tried diverting to another question. "What book were you reading earlier?"

There was a moment of silence before Sif responded, "History of Etheria."

"Oh? You like history? What did you learn?"

"... about the Princesses. And all the kingdoms they rule over and… the different sorts of people that live there."

"I see…" Catra supposed learning about princesses and kingdoms was something cool to read about when you're young. Although having met the princesses in real life, they weren't as fantastical and perfect as children's books described them. "You know, aunt Glimmer is a princess."

"...yeah, I know." 

"We actually used to be enemies, she and I."

"...really?"

"Oh yeah. Don't you remember? I used to be one of the bad guys." 

Sif didn't talk for a while. Catra wondered what she was thinking. It wasn't until they were almost there that she finally said something again. "Mom, what kingdom do we come from?"

"Huh? What do you mean? We live in Bright Moon."

"...no like… there was a part in my book that talked about… cat people. Called magicats, and they looked like us. That there used to be a lot of us then suddenly they all disappeared, and no one's been able to find them ever since…"

"Magicats…" Catra used to wonder that too. Where did she come from? Adora told her that she found her abandoned in a cardboard box but her true origins were unknown. There was a time when she wanted to explore the world to find out but the Horde always kept her busy. "I… I don't know, Sif. Maybe there aren't more cat people out there, maybe we're the only ones." 

Sif pouted at that. "I wish there was a magicat princess."

Catra chuckled. "Maybe there is. I just don't know where she would be… but if I do, we can all go as a family on an adventure and find the rest of the magicats."

The little kitten looked up with her pupils wide with wonder. "Really?" 

"Yeah really. Oh, we're here!" They'd finally reached Entrapta and Hordak's quaint little house. It was made with metal and had a rather ugly roof also made of steel. The couple was always more about practicality than aesthetics. Catra knocked on the door. Within a few seconds, a computerized voice greeted her from somewhere Catra couldn't figure out.

"Hey Catra!" 

"Entrapta, what's up? I just wanted to stop by for a bit and catch up, if you're not busy. I brought Sif with me." 

"Oh no not at all! And you brought the little one with you, great! Come in, come in, I just finished something and I wanna show you guys!"

 _Always up to her old tricks,_ Catra thought. The door automatically slid open and the two entered into their little techno shed. The interior actually reminded Catra a lot of the Fright Zone, which made her somewhat uneasy. There were a lot of unpleasant memories from there. But the place also had a more… homely feel? She couldn't explain it, but there was a certain… warmth to the place. Maybe it was because of the occupants living here.

Sif was incredibly fascinated by the place. The shiny gadgets everywhere, the little spherical robots cleaning up the place. One of the robots went up to Sif and looked at her quizzically. It was almost like it was… sniffing her? But of course, robots couldn't smell. Sif froze in place, unsure of what the robot's intentions were. 

"Reach out your hand," Catra encouraged. Tentatively, Sif raised her hand cautiously to gently touch the front of the robot. In response, the robot eagerly nuzzled itself into the kitten's touch. Sif grinned and looked back at her mom. 

"It likes me!"

Catra laughed. "Yeah it does."

"Can… can we keep it?"

"Really, you want another pet? We already have Melog at home."

"Yeah but…" Sif stroked the side of the robot. "I like this one a lot." 

Before Catra could say anything, Entrapta walked into… whatever room this was. She couldn't really tell if this was supposed to be a living room or a laboratory. 

"Catra!" With both arms and hair, the catgirl was encased in Entrapta's tight embrace. The robot that Sif had been petting scurried out of the room as if it was frightened. "It's been so long!"

"I….khh.. hkkd… can't breathe…" After what seemed like an eternity, Entrapta released her and oxygen was able to rush back into Catra's lungs again. "It's… ukkh… phew. Good to see you too, Entrapta."

"About six months to be exact!" The purple-haired engineer turned her attention to the adorable little girl clinging to her mom. "And hello there, offspring of Catra! Wow, you're so big now!" 

Sif flinched at the woman's explosive greeting. Whoever this was, she was definitely crazy. 

"How old is she now?" Entrapta asked, studying the little specimen.

"She's six," Catra replied. "Last time you saw her she was like… three, I think?" 

"Yeah, sounds about right. Don't you remember me, Sif? I'm auntie Entrapta!" 

Sif only clung to Catra's pants harder and averted her gaze. 

"Sif, say hi to your auntie. It's not nice to ignore people."

"...don't wanna."

Catra sighed. "She's a little shy."

Entrapta giggled. "I can tell. Well if you don't wanna talk to me, I guess I'll just keep that robot for myself… shame, I was considering putting him up for adoption…"

The kitten's ears suddenly perked up and she turned towards the engineer. "Was… was that robot yours?"

Entrapta nodded. "He sure is! In fact I built him myself!" She stuck out her wrench and beamed with pride. 

Sif's eyes were filled with stars. "Wow…" 

_Aww,_ Catra mused. "So Entrapta, what was that thing you wanted to show us?"

"Ah yes!" Entrapta's hair stretched back to the room behind her, rummaging through what sounded like a box full of tools, then snaked back forward to present a rectangular device in front of Catra's face. "Ta-da!"

Curiously, Catra reached up and grabbed the strange, thin tablet and examined it. "What is it?"

"A global positioning system!" 

"A what?" 

"A GPS for short! It's a portable device with a system that provides the user with global positioning and navigation services! You just put in some coordinates and using satellites in outer space, it listens to their signals to calculate the distance from several other satellites and directs you to your destination!"

Catra blinked, dumbfounded. "What?"

"You put in a destination and it tells you how to get there!"

"Ooohh…" she finally understood. "There was something like that in Mara's ship, that's how they found Horde Prime and rescued me."

"Correct! I studied the technology, and, with the help of your community projects constructing the satellites in Etheria's atmosphere, I was able to engineer the system to implement it to a portable platform. So now, anybody can get to anywhere they want on Etheria!"

"That's amazing!" Catra's pupils went wide with excitement. "Can I have one?" 

"Of course! I have a whole crate of them ready to send out so they can be mass produced. You can get first dibs on them, though." She winked. 

"Sick!" Catra stored the device into her pocket. "This'll come in handy, I'm sure." 

"Oh, I'm sure!" Slow, heavy footsteps were heard approaching from the other room until a half-asleep Hordak clad in pajamas walked into their little gathering.

The large alien yawned and turned to Entrapta. "What's with all the noise." 

"Catra's here!" 

He recoiled at her boisterous voice, overwhelmed by all this noise. "I can see that."

"Good to see you, Hordak," Catra greeted. 

"Catra." He yawned. "Long time no see."

She eyed him up and down as a smirk crept onto her face. "Unicorn pajamas?"

"I got those for him!" Entrapta chirped. Hordak grumbled.

"Sorry, sorry." Catra turned back to Entrapta. "I actually wanted to talk to him about something. Do you mind watching over Sif for a bit?"

"I'd be glad to!" the nerd exclaimed. Her hair snatched the kitten from her mother's pant leg and lifted her off her feet. "Are you ready to learn about science?!" 

"Aahh!!" 

"That's the spirit!" And with that, they disappeared into the basement. Catra glanced at Hordak.

"I'm really surprised you two get along."

Hordak turned away, blushing. "Nothing for you to be concerned about."

Catra couldn't help but laugh at her former boss. Entrapta had him totally whipped, he was basically a big teddy bear now. 

"So what is it you needed to talk about, that you have interrupted my sleep schedule?"

The feline woman paced around the room, recollecting her thoughts. "A while ago my daughter confided in me that she was getting bullied at school. Apparently other kids were blaming her for being the kid of a war criminal."

"And so why come to me about that? I know nothing about raising children," he complained.

"Yeah but you're one of the few people I can really talk to regarding our time in the Horde. Adora defected before doing anything really serious and you and I worked closely together at the time."

"What is the point you're trying to make?"

"It just got me thinking… I've already forgiven myself for all the things I did during my time in the Horde… but do you think our punishment for all that was enough? I sometimes think we got off way too easy… and apparently a lot of other people think the same, too." 

Hordak crossed his arms and stared at the floor. "For most of my life, I knew nothing but harsh punishment even for the smallest transgressions. Horde Prime, if he had things his way, would never forgive our actions and would've had us executed, redeemed or not. But you Etherians are exceedingly merciful, almost disgustingly so… but perhaps it is this 'compassion' that you all have that makes your people thrive."

"I guess you're right," Catra said. "I just think it's crazy we never got jail time. Not that Bright Moon really has a proper prison anyway, from what I've heard. Hell, I nearly destroyed the universe with that portal I opened! What was I thinking?"

"That was indeed very brash and foolish of you," Hordak agreed, nearly getting a headache just from the memory. "But it's in the past now. There's no point in lingering on the subject."

At the back of Catra's mind, she knew Hordak was right. But there was still something that bothered her, something that she'd repressed for years until the conversation with Sif brought it back to the surface. It was the one thing she'd never made peace with. "But… what about Salineas?"

That seemed to strike a nerve in Hordak, his expression turning dark. "We don't talk about Salineas."

"But--"

"Enough!"

Catra winced at Hordak's tone, his voice rattling her ears. She backed down. "Okay." Hordak uncrossed his arms and sighed, as if to diffuse the tension.

"What happened in Salineas… it was a different time. Truthfully, I didn't know you Etherians were also capable of such… barbarism. But it helped us win, and at the time that was all that mattered."

The guilt that Catra had been working years on to erase all came crashing back down on her. The thing she regretted the most, the one thing she could never tell even Adora: "And I enjoyed it."

Hordak raised a brow.

"I enjoyed every moment of it… the screams… the suffering… the families being torn apart… I was a part of all that. And worst of all, the..." tears threatened to spill from Catra's eyes. She couldn't even bring herself to mention the last part. "I'm a monster, they're all gone and in the end I got to be the hero and walked free."

A large, heavy hand rested on her shoulder and she looked up to see Hordak, his face almost… sympathetic. "What's done is done. Yes, we committed atrocities. But you have to let go. There is no point in dwelling on your past mistakes. Additionally, what good would a harsher sentence do for you? Will it make you a better person? Will it fix all that was destroyed? If there's one thing I learned from you Etherians, it's that punishment does not lead to redemption. Rather than throwing us in prison, the community projects we have been working on the last eight years have done more than enough to rectify our actions. We not only fixed everything we destroyed, we've also uplifted the people of Etheria to a standard of living never before seen."

He was right about that. The technology left behind from Horde Prime proved to be invaluable, jumping Etheria's scientific advancement thousands of years ahead. While it will take decades to implement them into every aspect of society, Hordak and Catra's community service projects had done more than just restored the kingdoms to their former glory. "But is that enough to make it all okay in the end?"

"It doesn't matter whether or not it's enough. We can't undo our actions. But we can work on a better future. For everyone. For your children."

 _My children…_ if there was anything she had to be, she had to be a role model for her daughters. Hordak was right, she can't dwell on the past. Right now, she was a parent, and she needed to be someone her kids looked up to. 

Catra wiped her tears and finally nodded at Hordak in agreement. "You're right. Punishment accomplishes nothing. I made mistakes -- but they taught me how to be better." 

Hordak smiled. "Good that we have an understanding."

"Gaaahhhh!!" a scream echoed from downstairs, before the door to the basement bursted open and out came a scrambling kitten trying to escape purple pigtails. Sif hurriedly clung back to Catra's pant leg, snapping Catra and Hordak out of their moment. "Mom!! She's crazy!"

"Get back here Sif! I just wanted to run some tests on you!" 

"What tests!?" Catra questioned, instinctively becoming protective. 

"Just some routine testing is all! I swear it's nothing dangerous! At least not at first!"

"She wanted to dissect me!" Sif accused. 

Entrapta looked personally offended at that remark, disbelief written all over her face. "I did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"Did--"

"QUIET!" Hordak yelled. He pinched his nose, or where his nose would be if he had one, exasperated. "I'm going back to sleep. This whole ordeal has been tiring."

Catra watched him drag his feet back to the other room. "It's been nice catching up," she called. He only groaned in response. She turned to Entrapta. "Well that was fun, but I think it's time the two of us head back."

"Oh it has! Don't be afraid to stop by again soon and say hi to Adora for me! Sif here was also surprisingly pretty talkative, well that is until I started trying to run my tests on her…" she trailed off.

Sif stuck out her tongue. Entrapta just grinned and extended one of her pigtails to pat the girl's head. 

"She's a good girl." Catra stroked her daughter behind her ears, eliciting a purr. "We'll see you guys around."

"One thing before you guys leave!" The engineer disappeared into yet another room, honestly Catra was losing count of how many damn rooms there were in this house, and the robot Sif interacted with earlier came running towards them. "He's free to a good home!" 

Sif's face instantly lit up in excitement. Her tail stood up straight as she hugged the spherical robot. "Yay!"

Catra wasn't exactly sure if it was a good idea to take in another pet right now, but she shrugged and figured there was no harm in taking this one in if it meant Sif could have a friend. She deserved to be happy. "You better make sure to take good care of it."

"I will!" she squeaked. Sif purred even louder than before and Catra felt nothing but pure love for her daughter.

* * *

As they walked back home, Sif walking the robot with some kind of leash, Catra thought about what she and Hordak talked about. 

Truthfully, when she had that conversation with Sif a while back, she wasn't only trying to convince her daughter. She was also trying to convince herself. 

Maybe there was evil in everyone, to varying degrees. But if there was anything she learned in her life, it's that there was also some good in everyone too. There was a time when she spent so long thinking there was no good in her left that she had rejected every opportunity she had to change. But she realized being good wasn't something you were, but something you continuously work on to be.

Today, she learned that while looking back on the past was important, it was just as important to look forward to the future.

Catra couldn't stop her eyes from wandering down to the little kitten in front of her trotting away happily. _Our future._

\---

**Extra**

"So, how are they?" Adora asked hopefully.

"They're…" the texture was soggy. Catra was pretty sure it was undercooked. The flavor was… waaaay too salty for some reason. "What were you trying to make again?"

"Red bean buns!"

"Red bean buns!? This doesn't taste _anything_ like red bean! Why is it salty?"

"What!? Let me have a bite!" Adora snatched the pastry out of Catra's hand and took a bite for herself. Her face instantly turned blue. "Oh… mmmhyeah… you're right…"

Catra threw her head back laughing. "You idiot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the second chapter! I like to think that Hordak becomes a little softie after being with Entrapta for so long. They're so cute together <3 
> 
> Next chapter will feature the other daughters! Hope you all enjoyed this :)


	3. Day By Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There isn't a day that goes by where Catra could say nothing interesting happened. Her family makes sure of that.

Frosty moonlight trickled through the blinds of the window, spilling luminescence into the total darkness of the bedroom.

The air in the room was crisp, cold. But in the center was concentrated heat, underneath the covers of the bed where hot breaths and warm fluids mingled together. 

"Catra," Adora gasped, her breath ragged. The catgirl's length was buried deep within her, but still she craved more.

"Mmm… Adora… you feel so good," Catra moaned. "Get on your knees, I wanna do it from behind."

Adora obeyed her Alpha's command, her body basically moving on its own. Catra slipped back in and resumed a quick pace. This position was her favorite, it allowed more control, she was able to go deeper, and she got to see the wonderfully vast expanse of Adora's gorgeous back. Even if the blonde boasted as a strong, powerful warrior as She-Ra, to Catra she was her Omega, submissive and obedient. 

Catra leaned down and brought her lips to Adora's ear. "I'm gonna fill you up." Adora shivered at the sensation of her hot breath, anticipating what was to come, until--

The door to the room suddenly opened to a small child holding a stuffed plushie. "Mom's, I--"

The two adults yelped at the interruption and fell back into the bed, frantically seizing the blankets in an effort to cover themselves. "W-what was that baby?"

Sif stared at her parents, unsure why they looked so flustered and… guilty. She blinked. "Mom's?"

"Yes, little kitten, what is it?" Catra asked, trying to hide the fact that she was out of breath.

"Umm… I can't sleep."

"We'll be right there honey, just give us a second, okay!" Adora said nervously. "Just close the door and we'll be out soon!"

"...okay." Still confused, Sif closed the door and stood outside as she waited.

Catra breathed a sigh of relief. "Why couldn't she have waited like, thirty seconds? I was so close, too…"

Adora snickered at her wife and leaned against her shoulder. "We can pick up where we left off tomorrow… but for now I think one of us needs to go and lull the kid to sleep."

"I'll do it. Lemme get dressed, I don't want her to see, uh…" she glanced down at her crotch soaked in fluids. "...all this." The blonde stifled another laugh then placed a loving kiss on Catra's cheek. 

"Come back soon," she said softly. "I'll be waiting."

Adora's tone made Catra's heart skip a beat. She sometimes couldn't believe how lucky she was to be married to such a sweet, amazing woman.

Getting up, Catra grabbed a tissue to clean herself off then put on some loose shorts and a shirt. Adora watched her walk out of the bedroom and relaxed back into her pillow.

Sif was still outside the door when Catra came out. The kitten looked tired, it was about midnight which was well past what was supposed to be her bedtime. "Can't sleep?"

She drowsily shook her head. Clearly she was tired enough, but something must've been keeping her up. As they walked to Sif's room, Catra kept a comforting hand around her daughter's shoulder. Sif climbed back into bed and Catra made sure to tuck the warm blankets in well so she felt safe. For some reason, Sif kept staring at her, as if she did something.

"What?"

Sif's gaze wandered the opposite direction. "....what were you and mommy doing?"

Catra felt heat rise up her cheeks. She looked away, embarrassed. "N-nothing, we were, um…" she scrambled for words, trying desperately to think of an explanation. What the hell was she supposed to say? "Wrestling. Me and mommy were wrestling."

Sif just continued to stare at her, as if she didn't buy it. "...why?"

"Because, um… y'know. Mommy and I do that every night to see who has to take the trash out tomorrow." Catra cursed herself at her pathetic attempt to make an excuse for what she saw. She was really bad at this. 

Finally, though, that seemed to be enough. Sif nestled further into the blankets and didn't ask any more questions. While Catra was relieved, she could see that something else was on her mind. 

"What's wrong, little kitten? Has something been keeping you up?" Catra didn't miss the look of sadness on her daughter's face. She waited patiently for her to answer.

"... I don't want to go to school tomorrow."

"Why not?"

"Because… because those kids are still mean to me." Catra felt her heart sink when she uttered those words. Clearly the bullying was an ongoing problem, and it hurt her to know that it came to the point where she was now dreading going to school everyday. She gently brushed strands of Sif's hair behind her feline ear in an attempt to comfort her. Catra noticed her tail start to twitch from underneath the blanket.

"I'm gonna go to your school and talk to your teacher about it. I'll see if I can do anything about those bullies and get them to stop. If not, we can transfer you to another school. A fresh start." Sif didn't say anything, but Catra could see her expression start to relax. The drowsiness was finally starting to catch up to her.

"...you promise?" she asked, her eyes heavy. Catra leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead, eliciting a soft purr from her.

"I promise."

* * *

_The next day..._

"Mama!" 

"Huh?" Catra didn't even have the chance to close the door yet before three bundles of fur hurdled straight at her, knocking her to the ground and leaving her breathless. They all started purring loudly and nuzzled their noses into her. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean, mama? We're just happy you're home!" one of them squeaked, a tan-colored feline Omega named Freya. She was a sassy little kitten, and was also the quickest to start a fight with Sif. When she wasn't playing outside, she was at home often getting into trouble or complaining about something.

"Yeah right," Catra said. "You three only act like this when you want something."

"No! Okay but maybe…" the darkest one said. This one was slightly darker than Catra, maybe a few tones down from her own fur. She was Eir, the one who got most of her traits from Adora. She was athletic, kinda dumb, and very friendly. She definitely packed the most punch when they all ran towards her, having that much strength for a six year old.

"Ugh, what do you three want," Catra groaned. "I told you we're not getting another horse or pony or whatever! One talking horse is enough."

"No mom, it's not that," the last one said, her voice softer than the others. This was Idun, the one both Catra and Adora agreed to have a heart of gold. She had comparatively lighter fur than all the others and blonde hair, likely from Adora. She rarely got into trouble, always had good grades, and had amazing manners. Despite that, her siblings claimed she wasn't as perfect as she seemed and that she was secretly really snarky. 

"Then what is it?" She attempted to get back up but they all pounced on her to keep her down. 

"We wanna see the magicats!" They yelled in unison, Catra cringing at the amount of spit that just flew in her face.

"What?"

"Sif said there were more of us out there, she told me so I told everyone else and we all decided we wanna go see them!" Eir babbled excitedly. 

"Yeah like what if we're actually magicat princesses!" Freya chimed in. "And I wanna have more magicat friends, I mean I guess Eir and Idun are okay and Sif is just annoying!"

"Hey don't talk about your sister like that," Catra warned. As the three kept chattering on about how much they wanted to see magicats, she pushed them off and got back on her feet, dusting herself off. She then closed the door to the house, removed her shoes and started heading towards the living room with three little kittens bouncing after her. _I did not sign up for this,_ Catra thought to herself, already exhausted from a long day at work seeing over several projects. Currently they were working on constructing a world-wide bullet train system to connect all the kingdoms, something that would drastically improve not only travel and relations but would boost economic growth. 

Catra collapsed and sunk into the couch, her daughters still rambling on in front of her. She rubbed at her temples, her patience slowly depleting. Why did Adora have to be out on a mission today, of all days?

"And then, and then, and then--"

"Be quiet!" she suddenly shouted, scaring the three into silence. Quickly realizing that may have been a bit excessive, Catra's expression softened. "Listen, mommy's really tired right now. Can you bother me later? I just want to rest. I'm sorry for yelling."

The three pouted childishly, not satisfied at all. They then huddled up and started whispering among themselves, trying to think of a plan to convince their mom. As they did so, another kitten walked in from the hallway to grab something to drink when she noticed the three of them gathered around the sofa. Sif stopped in her tracks and realized they were whispering.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked them, grabbing their attention. 

"None of your business, Sif! No Alphas allowed in this meeting!" Freya snapped.

Sif bristled with anger. "Mom's an Alpha too! Why does she get to be here?"

"I said it's none of your business!"

Infuriated, Sif stepped forward, tail thrashing wildly and ears pointed back angrily. "Why do you always leave me out of everything!"

Eir and Idun tried to placate Freya but the little cat just wouldn't back down. She huffed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, maybe cus Alphas are dumb and don't know how to act right." 

"Wait, what!?" Catra snapped out of her mini-dissociation and glared at Freya. "We are _not_ dumb!" 

"See, even mom agrees!" Sif pointed out. 

"Well of course she does," Freya scoffed, rolling her eyes. "She's an Alpha too, in case you didn't notice, genius. Alphas get all hot-headed for no reason. And for what? Probably because they have tiny brains."

"You watch your mouth, young lady!" Catra was this close to grounding this kid. Where did she get this attitude from, anyway?

Sif was seeing red. As she unsheathed her claws ready to pounce at her, Eir stepped in between them before things could escalate further. "Guys stop!" Briefly, Freya and Sif shared a mutually hostile look before they both turned away. 

"I hate Omegas!" Sif shouted before stomping back to her room and slamming the door. Catra pinched her nose, utterly exasperated by these damn kids. 

She stood up and grabbed Freya's tiny arm. The kitten looked up at her incredulously.

"You and I are gonna talk."

\---

If Catra was being honest, she knew where Sif was coming from. Omegas _were_ infuriating. At times. But there was a time in her life when she really despised them. After all, both Shadow Weaver and Adora were Omegas. It was the fact that they were both Omegas that she believed was the reason Shadow Weaver always favored Adora over her back then. And when Adora defected to the Rebellion all those years ago, her hatred for Omegas had reached its peak. Omegas had been the source of all her problems, the sole reason for her suffering. 

Of course, that was all in the past and it took a long time for Catra to shed those outdated beliefs. She now understood that Alphas and Omegas were compliments of each other, not opposites. That being said, disputes were inevitable. Especially considering her kids were young, something like this was bound to happen.

Freya, though, was another thing. She didn't know when it started, but her and Sif were essentially rivals. Freya just loved getting underneath her sister's skin and provoking her. Sif would often respond with teeth and claws. 

Catra had Freya sit on the bed and she kneeled down in front of her so she was level with her face. Freya avoided her mom's hard gaze, opting to stare down at her palms instead.

"Look at me," Catra said sternly, though without any malice behind it. Frowning, Freya reluctantly looked up and met Catra's blue and yellow eyes. "Why did you say those awful things to Sif?"

Freya furrowed her brows and pouted. "'Cus it's true," she spat bluntly. "Alphas are dumb. Sif always tries to get in my business and then goes all crazy when I tell her to go away."

"But Sif is your sister, Freya," Catra reminded. "You have to let her in sometimes or else she'll think she's being left out. And she is being left out, why don't you ever include her?"

"Because she's annoying!" The girl broke eye contact and grit her teeth. "Besides, it's not like she knows how to have fun anyway. All she does is read books and play with that stupid robot."

Catra released a deep sigh. Where was Adora when you needed her? She would be able to understand these Omega tendencies. "Listen, I don't care if you have differing hobbies or not. She is your sister. You're supposed to look out for each other because we're a family. If you want to be a part of this family, act like it. You need to apologize."

"But--"

"I mean it, Freya," Catra interrupted. When Freya saw that her mom's eyes would not waver, she realized she could no longer argue. She slightly relaxed her stubborn demeanor. 

"Fine," she muttered. Relieved, Catra stood back up then stepped out of the room, Freya following behind her. 

She opened the door to Sif's room, and, as per usual, was hissed at. "Calm down, little kitten. Your sister's here to say sorry."

Sif was on the floor hugging her knees to her chest, back facing them. "No she isn't."

"Sure she is." Catra placed a hand on Freya's back and shoved her forward, causing the kitten to nearly trip in front of her sister. Freya caught herself, then awkwardly cleared her throat. She really didn't want to do this, like, at all.

"Hey dummy. Look… I didn't mean what I said earlier about Alphas being stupid or whatever, okay? So forget it already."

"Ehem," Catra fake-coughed from the background. 

Freya groaned. She really, really hated having to do this. "Okay fine. I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? I'm sorry and I shouldn't have said it. There."

Sif slowly turned around, still mad but also surprised to hear her sister say that for the first time. She had never said sorry before. "You mean it?"

Freya felt frustration and embarrassment well up in her chest but she suppressed those feelings in an effort to not be petty. "Yes, okay, I mean it. Don't think this is gonna be a regular thing from now on." Catra walked over and smiled down at her daughters. 

"Sif, can you get up?" Slowly, Sif stood up and turned to face her sister. "Good. Now shake on it."

Freya rolled her eyes and begrudgingly held out her hand. Sif stared at it for a moment, then met hers with her own. They shook awkwardly.

"See, was that so hard?"

"Yes," they both said much to Catra's amusement. She patted both their heads. 

"You two will be alright." Today, Catra learned to take things day by day. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here are the rest of the daughters! Freya's a very sassy girl isn't she? I like to think that despite the fact they fight a lot, Freya actually cares a lot about Sif whether she wants to admit it or not.
> 
> The next chapter will be a little dark... thanks for reading :)


	4. Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Catra and Adora discuss the possibility of looking for the magicats, Sif goes through her struggles unnoticed. WARNING: explicit bullying

It was a quiet evening in the kingdom of Bright Moon, the stars giving the landscape an almost ethereal glow. Far from the fortress which was situated at the heart of the kingdom, Catra and her family enjoyed a warm, peaceful dinner in their humble little home. 

All seated around the table, the family of six enjoyed various hot dishes cooked by Catra herself, mostly because Adora couldn't use the kitchen to save her life, as evidenced by last time she tried to bake those red bean buns.

Said blonde was digging into her bowl of rice ravenously, taking breaks in between only to devour the side dishes as well. Catra glanced up from the device she was holding to smile at her wife. _Such a glutton,_ she thought. Eir was digging into her meal with equal ferocity, just like her mother.

She returned her attention back to the screen and continued to try to fiddle with it. The GPS Entrapta had given her weeks ago wasn't exactly intuitive as she had been struggling to get the thing to work the past few hours. Catra cursed herself for not asking for an instruction manual.

As Catra pressed some sort of button on the screen, her eyes widened when she was finally prompted with two options, either to manually input coordinates or drop a destination on the map. Seeing as she didn't know any specific coordinates, she opted for the second option and was presented a map of the general area she was in, which covered most of Bright Moon. Experimentally, she touched a random location on the map and watched a little pin appear, creating a path from her current location to the destination. Grinning, Catra felt a sudden surge of accomplishment.

"Yes!" She exclaimed.

Adora paused her eating to look at her wife. "Hrmm?" she hummed, mouth still full of flavorful chicken. 

"I think I got this to work," Catra said, barely containing her excitement. "We can get to anywhere we want now!"

Adora quickly chewed her food and unceremoniously swallowed it all in one huge gulp. She gasped, then asked, "get to where exactly?"

"Anywhere! Literally anywhere on this planet. This is so awesome…" Catra continued to fiddle with the thing, trying to see what other features it had.

Freya slammed her small fists on the table. "So that means we can go look for the magicats!" Both Eir and Idun's ears perked up and they all turned to Catra with unbridled enthusiasm.

"Mom lets go find the magicats with the GPS!"

"I wanna go now let's go!"

"Mama please can we go…"

Catra ignored their pleas and remained focused on the device.

"Wait, wait, wait, the magi-what now?" Adora asked, totally confused.

"Magicats!" The three omegas squealed. Sif just rolled her eyes at them.

"Sif read in her book that us and mom come from some ancient race called Magicats, and we wanted to go find out if they really exist!" Eir exclaimed.

"Yeah and it was _my_ idea so I don't know why you all are acting so excited," Sif retorted. "I only wanted me and mom to go, not with you guys." 

Freya gave a smug grin and said sarcastically, "Oh lighten up, Sif. Mom said we're a family, remember? So we should go as a family." Sif shot her a glare from across the table, to which Freya responded by sticking her tongue out.

"Huh…" Adora rubbed her chin, thinking about what her daughters were saying. Magicats? She'd never heard of them before. But now that she thought about it, it was sort of strange that Catra was the only feline hybrid she ever saw. There were many races of people on Etheria but they usually existed together in communities of similar physiology. In the Horde though, she grew up with a diverse set of orphans that came from every corner of the planet. 

Adora was always able to find many people like her, other humans, but Catra and her kids were basically the only ones of their kind. She started to feel bad at the thought, realizing maybe it _was_ a good idea they look for those "magicats." She didn't want them to feel alone, after all.

"Let's go find them," Adora announced suddenly. Catra looked up from her tablet and raised her brows.

"Find what?"

"The magicats!" she yelled, standing up tall and proud with her three daughters cheering.

"Yaaaaay!" Eir was basically jumping in her chair, giddy with excitement. "Mommy's on board! We're gonna see the magicats, we're gonna see the magicats!"

Sif, while she was certainly also excited to look for magicats, couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. She had really hoped she could just go with her mom, Catra. Sif knew they were supposed to do things as a family, but she just felt more attached to Catra than anyone else. This wasn't to say she held any resentment for her other mom, Adora. It's just that she believed Catra was the only one who truly understood her.

Adora noticed Sif's saddened expression. As her other daughters went on and on about magicats, she placed a comforting hand on her back. "Hey, what's wrong kiddo?"

"Nothing's wrong," Sif tried to jerk away from her mother's touch. Adora pulled her hand back in surprise, not expecting this reaction. 

"Sif?" Adora's voice was filled with concern. She always knew Sif was a little… _different_ from her other daughters, but she had this sinking feeling in her chest that there was something going on with her that she didn't know about. 

She made a mental note to talk about it with Catra later.

"I said nothing's wrong," Sif repeated, turning away from her. Adora frowned but sat back in her seat. Maybe it was best she leave her alone for now. 

Catra finally put down the tablet and hushed her boisterous daughters. They calmed down and waited for what their mom would say.

"Look, I'm sure it would be fun to look for magicats and all, but we don't know where they even are. According to Sif's history book, no one's seen them in centuries."

"What does the book say about where they used to live, though? That might clue us into where they were last seen and we could start our search there," Adora suggested.

"I mean, I guess…" Catra didn't actually think her family was that serious about seeing magicats. Sure she told Sif they could one day go on an adventure to find them, but she hadn't actually _meant_ it. For all she knew they were all extinct. But now that Adora also wanted to look for them, she supposed she now had to take the idea seriously. 

And maybe she was a little curious about it too, if they were still out there. If there really were magicats, scholars from every kingdom would rush to go meet them as well, to learn every aspect of their society and why they'd stay hidden for so long. But there was another question on her mind. What if they were dangerous? Catra was wary about bringing her entire family to an unknown group of people no one alive today has ever seen. Not even She-Ra would be able to stop them all if they turned out to be vastly outnumbered. 

Finally, she made a decision. "We can look for these 'magicats'... but your mother and I will go by ourselves first. We can't risk any of you getting hurt in case they're dangerous."

The enthusiasm the kittens had just moments ago disappeared in an instant. Freya had a look on her face like she couldn't believe what she just heard.

"But mom's--"

"No buts," Catra countered. "We have to make sure they're safe, if they even exist."

Adora nodded in agreement. "Catra's right, sweetie. We have no idea what sort of people they might be. Don't worry, we'll go together as a family if it turns out they're nice." The blonde stroked her daughter behind her ears, but Freya simply ignored the gesture and pouted. 

"Well this is lame," Idun muttered under her breath.

"Uuuugh!" Eir groaned in frustration. "This sucks ass."

Adora shot her daughter a look of disapproval at the mention of that word. "Hey, who taught you that word?"

"Um, mom did," she responded, pointing an accusatory claw at Catra. 

"Wow really, way to throw me under the bu--ah!" Catra screeched when Adora sprayed her with a bottle of water. Where the hell did she even get that thing?

"I'd prefer if you didn't swear around our kids, Catra." After a few more squirts for good measure, Adora withdrew the spray bottle and set it on the table. Catra growled in annoyance but decided to let it go and wiped the water from her face. 

"Look, it's not my fault these kids are basically sponges soaking up everything they hear. The other day I heard Idun talking something about a Communist Manifesto, probably 'cus she's been hanging around Swift Wind too much."

"Swift Wind is right though," Idun stated simply. "The proletariat must seize the means of production." Catra looked at Adora as if to say _'see what I mean!?'_

As her family went back and forth with each other, Sif stared down at her palms. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't at least a little disappointed they weren't going to see the magicats at least for a while now. She still really just wanted to go with her mom, Catra, though. She hoped maybe after their family trip together, Catra could take her on another trip, just the two of them.

\---

"Hey… has Sif been doing alright lately?"

Catra, sprawled out on the bed in her pajamas, set down her daughter's history book on the nightstand and stretched out her limbs. "As far as I know, yeah. Doesn't seem like she's had as many issues since she transferred schools."

"You sure?" Adora brushed through her long blonde locks, her eyes fixed on her own reflection on the mirror across from her. The lights at the mirror was currently the only source of brightness in their dim bedroom. "She seems… sorta distant lately."

"Pretty sure she's always been that way," Catra murmured. "I'm starting to think that's just how she is. Nothing wrong with that."

"I don't know, Catra, are you sure the bullying really stopped? I feel like there might be something more going on with her."

Catra sat up and turned her head towards Adora. "You think so? I was so sure having her change schools would solve the problem… Adora, are we… are we bad parents?" She paused, then gulped nervously. "Am _I_ a bad parent?" Catra felt a wave of anxiety wash over her. Was she becoming just like Shadow Weaver all along? Her gut twisted at the thought.

"No Catra," Adora reassured, getting up from her chair at the mirror and walking towards the bed to sit by her wife. "You're not a bad parent. You've always been gentle and caring with our kids… it's just…" her voice trailed off. 

"Just what?" 

Adora could hear so much worry in Catra's voice, so she ran her hand through her fur, attempting to soothe her. The stress gradually dissipated from her wife's mind and body, her chest beginning to softly rumble. Catra's tail wrapped itself around Adora's wrist affectionately. "It has nothing to do with you or anything you did. I just think Sif might be having trouble getting along with other people. I don't think that robot she has is a good substitute for friends."

"I guess you're right," Catra agreed quietly. "I just thought it'd be nice for her 'cus she really seemed to take a liking to it. She probably finds it easier to get along with something that doesn't talk, and I can understand that." Catra's thoughts wandered to Melog, her own companion. While she did understand the things Melog said, the magical being never judged her the way regular people did, which made its presence all the more therapeutic. 

"I know, but… Sif needs someone she can actually relate to. A real friend." Adora grasped Catra's hand and gently stroked it with her thumb. "We just have to find ways for her to socialize, y'know? I'm sure she'll find someone."

"I hope you're right," Catra muttered, nuzzling herself into Adora's soothing touch. She was purring even louder now, thoroughly enjoying the treatment the blonde was giving her. She never admitted it, but Catra was a sucker for getting pets. It was one of many cat-like tendencies Adora found so endearing about her. As it went on, she quickly found herself in a trance, forgetting the anxious thoughts that had plagued her mind just moments ago. 

Adora couldn't help but notice the tent growing in Catra's shorts. She giggled and smirked at her flirtatiously. "Someone's getting excited…"

A rose pink blush crept onto Catra's cheeks. She didn't know when she started getting aroused, but here she was. "Your fault."

Adora flashed a smug grin. She placed delicate fingers at the waistband of the catgirl's shorts, pulling them down slowly. Catra gasped as her impressive member bounced free, hitting the cold air. She flushed an even deeper shade of red.

Adora lightly wrapped her hand around the thick shaft and gazed up at Catra with her blue eyes, hooded and full of lust. "Let's take care of that, then."

* * *

The short jingle of the school bell rang out throughout the entire building, signalling the end of another day. The classroom bustled with the noise of dozens of students packing their stuff to go home and chattering about what they were gonna do later. 

Sif slung her red backpack over her shoulders and headed out the door, not bothering to talk to anyone while she walked through the hallway. She passed by many faces but none of them were familiar to her, none of them stuck out. They were all just variations of the same, indistinct, hollow shell she believed them all to be.

She just wanted to get home and play with her robot, whom she named Tomo. It had become her daily routine to get through school, go home and relax with Tomo. Most kids would consider that to be pretty boring, but she was grateful for it. It wasn't until a few days ago before she transferred to this new school she'd have to endure the taunts of other students not only during class but on her way home. She was grateful for this new peace. 

About halfway through her walk home though, on a dirt path snaking from the school campus to her home, she heard footsteps coming up from behind her. This made her feel somewhat apprehensive, as this path was still somewhat unfamiliar to her and up until now she hadn't seen anyone else walk through here. 

Sif spun her head around only for her stomach to drop at who she saw. A group of three Alpha kids her age, one a female with goat-like features, another a male sea elf who was in the roughest shape of them all, and lastly a female lizard-person. These were the kids who had bullied her ruthlessly at her last school. She'd never expected them to be able to find her again but now that she thought about it, she should've known better than to think her problems were just going to magically disappear. 

The sea elf took a menacing step forward and Sif felt dread pooling in her gut. Her ears flattened on her head and her fur puffed out in a defensive attempt to make herself look bigger. "W-what do you want?" she asked, trying her best to mask the fear in her voice.

"We've been wondering where you've been this whole time, kitty cat. Didn't know you'd be around here, this is one of our favorite hangout spots." The sea elf sneered, though they were the same age, he appeared considerably bigger than her. While Sif was quite scrawny, much like her mom Catra, he seemed to already have quite a bit of muscle mass. "So what, did your mommy pull you out of our school or something? Chicken out 'cus you couldn't handle it?"

"Don't talk about my mom!" Sif lashed out. She kept extending and retracting her claws, trying to contain her anger. 

The three just laughed. "Aww, you made the little kitty mad!" the lizard girl taunted. She had a crazy wide grin on her face, thoroughly enjoying the whole ordeal. "You better watch out before she claws your eyes out!"

"Shut up!" Sif shouted. 

"Or what?" The sea elf took another step forward. Sif took a step back, but she tried not to look intimidated. "Is your mom She-Ra gonna come rescue you? Ooh I'm so scared! Heh, or even better, your filthy Horde scum criminal mother," his last few words were laced with venom, his expression darkening. 

Sif was finding it more and more difficult to contain her rage. She clenched her fists, not caring that her claws dug into her own skin. "My mom's not a criminal!" 

The boy all of a sudden kicked her directly in the stomach, sending the girl tumbling to the ground. Tears welled up in the kitten's eyes against her own will as dull pain radiated in her gut, nearly sending her over the edge. Sif shook her head and tried to suppress the urge to cry right in front of them. 

"If your mom isn't a criminal, maybe she should explain what happened to my dad's village. Maybe she should explain what those Horde soldiers did to my mom and my aunt," he spat angrily. The other two kids laughed condescendingly at her, fueling Sif's rage further. "Your mom may be off the hook, but those of us from Salineas will _never_ forgive her for the things she did to our kingdom." He placed his webbed foot on Sif's head, adding to her humiliation.

A rush of anger-induced adrenaline flooded through Sif's veins. Pure hatred coursed through her as she clawed at the grass in frustration, trying so desperately to raise herself up but the pressure of the boy's foot was too great. 

"Pathetic," the goat girl sneered. "I bet She-Ra would be so disappointed to see her kid like this."

"Doesn't matter if her mom is She-Ra when her other mom is Horde scum trash," the sea elf harshly said, his words pricking into Sif's skin like thorns. Sif cursed how weak she was, how pathetic she must've looked. She wanted nothing more but to tear these kids apart limb from limb, but she knew she'd never stand a chance against them. The foot digging into her scalp served as a physical reminder of the deep shame she felt. 

The goat girl tore away Sif's backpack from her back and held it up triumphantly. "I got her bag!" 

"Oooh, what's she got in there?" the lizard girl asked in mock curiosity. 

"I dunno, let's find out!" Sif writhed underneath the sea elf as she dumped the contents of her bag over her own body. "Huh, nothing too interesting. How boring."

"Wait a minute, I just got an idea," the sea elf said above her. "Hold her down."

"Wait what are--" Sif screamed in terror as the other two applied pressure on both her arms and legs, keeping her firmly in place. She felt a slight relief when the boy finally lifted his foot off her head, but her stomach lurched as she anticipated what was soon to come.

He roughly straddled her back, knocking the breath out of Sif, and lifted her shirt. She struggled underneath him frantically. Her eyes went wide with shock when a sharp claw pierced her skin and started tracing some sort of pattern on her left shoulder blade. Sif could only choke out pitifully, her mind going numb as he sadistically dragged out her torment. She briefly lost track of time, almost as if her soul had left her body. When he finally finished, the fresh wound burned like fire on her back. He sat up and marveled at his work. 

"Heh, now everyone will know what Horde scum you are."

"Wow! The symbol looks spot on!" The lizard girl praised. 

"Yeah, you should be an artist."

Sif sucked in a huge breath when he finally stepped off of her back. "I think that should teach her a lesson. Next time she'll think twice before showing her face around here."

"She better. I was starting to enjoy her being gone from our class."

"I'll say."

"Let's go, I can't stand being around this filth," the sea elf said. Sif barely noticed the other two release her limbs, leaving her on the ground like a ragdoll. As they walked off, the little kitten couldn't find the strength to lift herself back up. Not when humiliation loomed so heavily above her. 

Not even the marks on her back stung as painfully as the tears that spilled over her cheeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Sif :( I have to say, it was a bit painful writing this chapter out. I'm sorry if you thought this story was only going to be fluff. But I also don't wanna make this too angsty at the same time. I hope to strike a sort of balance between the two somehow. Feedback would be appreciated. Also um, I'm bad at naming chapters :I
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed.


	5. A Risk (that I'm willing to take)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora and Catra set out on their journey, and Sif makes a decision.

"Uncle Bow!" Eir ran excitedly to his arms, purring loudly. Bow stood up and spun her around, the kitten giggling away happily.

"Looks like she's as playful as ever," Glimmer said with a smile. The married couple had matured a lot in the past eight years, Bow now considerably taller and more muscular while Glimmer had shorter hair, even shorter than it was before, and her figure filled out nicely. Their friendly personalities, however, remained the same. 

"They're all just sooo cute!" Bow exclaimed. He set Eir back down and pet the other two purring omegas at his feet. Suddenly, Freya let out an adorable, high-pitched sneeze. "Awwwwh!" He felt like his heart was about to explode from fuzzy kitten overload. 

Sif was standing out in the corner, watching the scene with disdain. _What a bunch of babies,_ she thought. 

Glimmer didn't miss that high and mighty look on Sif's face. "Wow, looks like _someone_ thinks she's too good for pets, huh?" Sif scrunched up her face in annoyance, turning her head away. Glimmer just shook her head. "Ugh, so dramatic." Her eyes shifted to the only adult catgirl in the living room. "Must get it from her mother."

"Who're you calling dramatic, Sparkles?" Catra stuffed the GPS into her rucksack and put a hand on her hip, raising a brow at her.

"Uh, you. Looks like most of your kids took after Adora though, personality-wise," she said, gesturing to Eir, Freya and Idun. "I guess to balance out the fact that they all basically look like you."

Adora buckled her belt and snapped on her boots. Rather than wearing her usual dress, she wore something more practical for exploring. A jacket, some slacks and a bag with some supplies. She ran a hand through her long blonde hair and smirked at Glimmer. "Those magicat genes are surprisingly pretty strong, y'know. Heck, I didn't even know I could pump out a whole litter like that."

Glimmer wrinkled her nose in mock-disgust. "Spare me the details. Talking about kids with Bow is stressful enough."

Bow stood up with a dreamy look on his face. "Kids are so cute Glimmer! Especially Catra and Adora's kids! Besides, since we rescued your mom and you rescinded the throne, we should have plenty of time to raise kids together!" Glimmer waved her hand dismissively. 

"And we will, Bow, just not yet! Have you seen the amount of grey hairs they have? Shit's a lot of work." Adora brought a finger to her lips and glared at her, motioning her head towards the kittens. Glimmer smiled apologetically. "Whoops. Language."

Catra grabbed strands of her own hair and started to examine it. "I don't have grey hair, do I…?" she whispered to herself. She shrugged and joined Adora at the entryway. "Well, we should get going. You guys all good to watch over them?"

"Oh we're good!" Bow's muffled voice came out from a pile of purring kittens. He held out a thumbs-up. 

"Yeah we're good," Glimmer reassured. "You guys should enjoy yourselves while you're out, being away from the kids and all. We'll let you know if anything happens. And if anything happens on your end, let us know. We'll be able to get to where you are with Bow's tracker pad."

"Alright," Adora replied. 

"Sif?" Catra called. The kitten's ears perked up at the mention of her name and she shyly walked over to her mom. Catra knelt down so she could face her directly. "Hey, what're you pouting for?"

Sif just furrowed her eyebrows and avoided Catra's gaze. "...I wanted to come with you."

Catra smiled and held up both her hands to cup her daughter's cheeks. "One day, little kitten. Once we know they're good people, we'll take all of you." Sif's frown deepened at the mention of 'all of you'. She swatted Catra's hands away, irritated. 

"But why can't I go with you and mommy on this mission together? I'm an alpha, I know how to fight."

Catra sighed at her kitten's stubbornness. "Because you're still small, Sif. When you get bigger and stronger, we can go on these sorts of missions together, just you and I. Right now you're too weak to fight anyone."

A familiar anger welled up in Sif as Catra said those words. _Small, weak, pathetic_ , the voice in her head said. Too weak to stand up to her bullies, too small to do anything as they tormented her, too pathetic to fight back. She suddenly felt the pain of the wound on her back flare up again, as if to remind her. These feelings of inferiority made her shake with rage. 

"Hey, you okay?" Adora asked, leaning down on her knees to look at her. She couldn't help but notice her trembling. 

"It's nothing!" Sif ran on all fours away from her parents and sat back in the corner. Both Bow and Glimmer shared a look of concern. 

"Is she alright?" Glimmer asked worriedly.

"Yeah, she's just like that," Catra answered, standing back up. "She's a little sensitive so go easy on her. And make sure she doesn't fight with the others or anything."

"If you say so." The other kittens bounded up to Adora when they saw they were about to leave. 

"Mommy, can you bring back a souvenir when you come back? I wanna show all my friends that magicats _are_ real!" Eir squeaked bubbly. Adora felt her heart swell at the excited little kitten. 

"Of course, kiddo," she said, rustling her messy, dark hair. Eir's tail stood straight up, absolutely elated. 

"Yeah get me one too!" Freya exclaimed. Idun didn't even have to say anything, Adora already knew she also wanted one.

"We'll get you souvenirs too, don't worry." Adora straightened and stroked her kids affectionately as they hugged her legs. She glanced at Sif in the corner as well and gave a loving smile. "All of you." Sif momentarily caught her mother's gaze and scowled. 

"C'mon, let's go already," Catra said, tail swishing impatiently. "Melog, you too." The large cat padded over from the kitchen to Catra's side and nuzzled itself into her hand. As Catra walked towards the door, Adora bid her daughters a final goodbye and waved back at Bow and Glimmer. She joined Catra and Melog just as they stepped outside.

"We've got a long day ahead of us…"

\---

The Crimson Waste's hot, arid atmosphere hung heavily over the couple as they sluggishly traversed the vast, barren desert. Adora had ditched her jacket long ago, but she strongly considered going outright shirtless. Her skin-tight undershirt was hardly breathable. 

Catra on the other hand, had on a loose poncho over her clothes to shield herself from the sun's rays. Having a more cat-like biology, she could withstand the intense heat of the desert a little better than Adora did, though she found herself becoming more and more parched by the second. Melog, despite being a magical being with no real sensitivity to extreme temperatures, found themself affected by Catra's mood, dragging their paws lazily through the sand.

Catra reached into her rucksack and pulled out a canteen, unscrewing the cap and feeling a wave as of refreshment as the cool water passed through her lips. When she finished, Adora held out her hand, silently asking for a swig as well. Catra passed it off to her wordlessly.

As Adora ravenously gulped down the water, Catra checked her GPS again to make sure they were heading the right direction. Sif's history book had said the magicats once lived in the heart of this wasteland, in a location that was more in the middle of nowhere than this middle of nowhere already was. They had long since passed the bar they had both once been through during the war, past the Valley of the Lost. She was starting to get worried that this whole trip was pointless. On the GPS was this blacked out area with no information on it, directly in the center like the book mentioned. But as far as she could see, there was absolutely nothing along the horizon but sand and tumbleweeds.

Suddenly, Adora stopped in her tracks and held out her hand to stop Catra as well. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked around, as if there was something there. Catra blinked, confused. "Why'd you stop?"

Adora swallowed. "I can feel something here. Magic." Melog began sniffing the air, as if they could sense it as well. Catra, the only non-magical one of the trio, just stood around watching them investigate. It was then that Adora seemed to hit an invisible barrier out of nowhere. Catra glanced at her GPS again. _She's right in the center now..._

Adora clumsily felt around the invisible barrier as if she were looking for something, like a button or knob of some sorts. Catra walked over to her, tail flicking curiously. "There's something here, Catra… I just… it feels like some sort of door… if I can just get it to open…" Adora's face went red as she struggled to find a way to open the invisible door. 

Catra took a step forward and stretched out her hand. "Here Adora, maybe if we just--" she was cut off when suddenly, the invisible barrier in front of them glowed a bright white, so bright they thought they nearly went blind. Melog darted away, frightened. When the light finally died off, they were no longer in the Crimson Waste. 

"Where… are we?" Adora whispered breathlessly. The environment had went from a dry, barren desert to a humid, tropical forest. As the two took in their surroundings, one of Catra's ears twitched when she heard a rustling in the bushes nearby.

In an instant, the three found themselves surrounded by a group of four cat-like warriors, dressed in armor unlike anything they've ever seen on Etheria and equipped with primitive weapons, from swords and spears to bows and arrows. Both Catra and Adora held their hands in the air in an attempt to appear non-threatening while Melog stood in front of Adora protectively. 

_So they're real,_ Adora thought. They stood like that for a while, Adora wondering whether or not to transform into She-Ra or try to settle things diplomatically, Catra nervous and wondering if this had been a mistake. 

Just as the tension of the situation reached its peak, whom Catra presumed to be the leader of the party made her way forward and stood in front of her. She was a tall, athletically-built woman, with dark striped fur, similar cat ears sticking out from her helmet and by her scent, an Alpha. The armor she wore was unlike the usual full metal plating of the Horde but rather seemed to be made of segments of thick leather, each piece laced together with silk, and a large, steel plated chest piece. But what was most striking, or maybe most frightening, was the mask which covered the bottom half of her face decorated with ugly, monstrous teeth complimented by her helmet which boasted long, sharp horns. The woman's piercing, golden eyes seemed to glow under the hood of her helmet.

The other warriors wore similar variations of the same armor, but hers was by far the most impressive. Catra gulped, feeling tiny in comparison. 

She pointed the tip of her sword at the center of Catra's chest. "Who are you?"

Catra slowly lowered her arms, waiting for any indication from the woman if that was okay or not. When she didn't say anything, Catra cleared her throat and tried to compose herself. "I-I'm Catra."

The woman cocked her head, as if she were confused. "Just Catra..? What is your family name?"

Catra cursed internally, she hated having to mention her full name. "... eow," came her barely audible reply.

"What?"

"Meowmeow! My name is Catra Applesauce Meowmeow!" Adora burst out laughing behind her, the blonde unable to contain herself. Catra's face burned with embarrassment.

"I see…" the woman hummed, looking Catra up and down. It made her feel somewhat self-conscious. "Well, uh, Meowmeow, I can tell you're not from around here, despite very clearly being a magicat. Which is extremely bizarre… fascinating. So that means you're from the outside world?"

"Y-yeah," she stammered. "I came to look for other people like me… like my children." 

The woman raised a brow. "Children? You have a litter?"

"That's right," she gestured towards Adora behind her, who stood staring like an idiot. "She's my mate. Adora… Rainbowfist Meowmeow." 

"And the animal?"

"Melog, my companion. They respond to my emotions."

The warrior lowered her weapon and slightly relaxed. Then, she motioned for the others behind her to put away theirs as well. "Since you are of magicat descent, you are free to enter our kingdom, under close supervision. As for your mate…" she turned her head towards Adora, narrowing her eyes at her. "...she is free to join you, as long as you keep your omega in line."

Catra felt a wave of relief. This was a good start. While the warrior magicat went back to speak with her group, Catra turned to Adora and Melog. 

"Heheh, Applesauce Meowmeow," Adora snorted. 

"Will you shut up about that! Anyway, I have a good feeling about this. But we have to be careful, obviously… don't say anything stupid."

"Oh, will do, Applesauce Meowmeow!" She did a fake salute. Catra was highly unamused. "Hey, lighten up." Adora rubbed her wife's back reassuringly. "If worse comes to worse I'm still She-Ra. Y'know, savior of the universe She-Ra. Like," she made sword-like motions with her hands and slashing sound effects. "y'know, _that_ She-Ra."

Catra released a deep sigh, then smiled. Her wife was such a dork. "Yes. I know." Adora took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

The house was quiet this evening, the only noise being the soft, rhythmic breathing of the sleeping occupants within it. The kittens were put to bed hours ago, and, having been thoroughly exhausted dealing with their antics all day, Bow and Glimmer had finally retired for the night as well. 

However, there was one kitten still wide awake. Sif, who'd been laying in bed the entire time unable to sleep, stared up at the ceiling, troubled by her thoughts. 

Since her parents left this morning, all Sif could think about were the words her mom had said to her. How she was weak and small. Though Catra hadn't said those words to demean her in any way, it brought fresh memories of the encounter with her bullies days ago and the shame that came with it. She was an alpha, she was supposed to be strong, and yet she wasn't. The marks on her back still stung, as if to constantly remind her of just how pathetic she was. 

She's had it. She wasn't going to be weak anymore. She was going to prove herself to her mother that she _was_ strong enough, that she _could_ fight. In fact, she'll make her own journey to the magicats and when her moms see just how capable she is of taking care of herself, they'll see what an outstanding alpha she is. Then maybe she'll also have the courage to stand up to her bullies.

Sif slipped out of her bed quietly, a rush of adrenaline and the desire to prove everyone wrong fueling her as she made her decision. She removed her pajamas, slipped into some outdoor clothes, and silently headed out of her room. She found Bow and Glimmer passed out on the couch, Bow's tracker pad sitting conveniently on the table in front of them. Carefully, she grabbed the tracker pad and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. Not wanting to make too much noise by opening the house front door, she opted to go back to her room instead and went to open the window. 

Right as she was about to climb out, she heard a familiar voice call out to her in a whisper. 

"Sif!"

She turned around and, much to her annoyance, found Freya at her doorway, looking somewhat tired. Sif sighed and hung her legs over the ledge. "What."

"Where are you going?"

" _It's none of your business~_ ," Sif mocked in Freya's own typical tone. Her sister bristled with irritation.

"I'm serious, dummy." Freya walked inside, looking concerned. "Why are you leaving? Where are you gonna go?"

Sif just shrugged her shoulders. "What does it matter to you?"

The kitten was growing more and more frustrated. "Because I'm your sister. Mom said we're a family and that means we look after each other. Or whatever." She rolled her eyes at the corny expression.

Sif sighed, giving up. "You wanna know so bad? I'm going to find the magicats myself. I've got uncle Bow's tracker pad so I know where moms are. I'm gonna find them and show them I'm more than capable of being a big alpha and that I'm not some weak little kit."

Freya could sense there was hurt in Sif's voice, and she briefly wondered if something had happened with her. She could be really dumb sometimes, but this was beyond that. This was just reckless. "That's stupid and dangerous, Sif."

"I don't care!" Sif snapped, her voice almost breaking out of a whisper. Freya was taken aback, not thinking that would strike a nerve in her. "I'm tired of being pushed around all the time. By people at school, by you!"

 _Am I really that mean to her?_ Freya thought, suddenly feeling guilty at all the times she'd said hurtful things to her. Maybe she was being too harsh, but she'd never _meant_ the things she said. 

"I… but that doesn't mean you have to go…"

Sif shook her head. "I want to go. You said it yourself. We alphas do dumb things, and maybe this is dumb, but I don't care. I have to do this. You're an omega, you wouldn't understand."

"Then… if you're leaving… let me come with you. I… I wanna see the magicats too."

Sif turned away from her, facing outside the window. "No. I'm going by myself. I don't need your help." Just before she could jump out, Freya shot her arm forward and caught her shirt. "Fine… but at least take your dumb robot with you. It'll get lonely." There was a moment of silence, then Sif nodded. 

"Tomo," she called, and the inactive robot in her room seemed to roar to life, eagerly crawling towards her. Freya reluctantly released Sif and watched the two go out the window, into the woods that stretched out beyond their home. She watched them for a while, then, right before they went completely out of sight, she hopped out the window as well, going after them.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sif what are you doing D;


	6. New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora and Catra get to know some of the elusive magicats. Sif and Freya are deep in the Crimson Waste.

The party of warriors made their way through the thick, dense forest with Adora, Catra and Melog following closely behind. The warriors seemed to be familiar with every twist and turn they encountered, but to the trio it felt like navigating through a maze. It was more confusing than the Whispering Woods, and also seemed to have a much wider variety of biodiversity as well. Tiny bugs and creatures scuttered around everywhere, and there were birds singing high up in the trees. 

As they waded through the forest, Adora had one thought on her mind. "Do you think they have good food?"

Catra's ear perked at her question, as the group had been mostly silent up until now. "That's what you're thinking about?"

"I mean, what else is there to consider."

Catra rolled her eyes. "Oh I don't know, whether they're friendly or not, why they'd been in hiding this whole time, where they're taking us…"

"We're taking you to meet our warlord," the leader up front said, overhearing their conversation. "She will know how to, er… deal with you two."

"Warlord?" Catra questioned. "Who're you at war with?"

"With different clans," she replied. "Our kingdom, Half Moon, is made up of several different provinces, each ruled by the most powerful clan in that area. The head of the clan is called a warlord, because they control their own armies and command them to wage wars with other clans."

"Huh… according to our history books, Half Moon was once a united kingdom ruled over by a King and Queen."

The warrior shook her head. "That was a long time ago, before we isolated ourselves from the outside world. We magicats are highly territorial, so when we no longer had to compete with the other kingdoms, we competed with ourselves. The monarchy was abolished centuries ago."

"So you know about the other kingdoms on Etheria?" Adora asked curiously. "Even though you've been isolated so long?"

"It's covered in our history lessons, yes," the warrior stated simply. "Most have a surface level understanding of the outside world. The scholars are more knowledgeable about it… they often venture out there."

"Wait really? But Catra's the only magicat I've ever seen in the uh, outside world."

"They use magic to disguise their form. Magic is a very important aspect to our society, hence the term 'magicat'. But only a few of us actually know how to use magic." 

_That explains why I don't have any magical powers_ , Catra thought to herself. They were now moving downhill, the trees becoming more sparse and the bushes thinning out. They were getting close. 

"So what clan are you from?"

"The Suji clan. You may call me Suji, as that is my surname. Our family is well-known in Half Moon. We are paid very well to serve as the warlord's warriors and supervisors." The other warriors hadn't said anything this entire time, and Catra wondered if they were used to their leader doing all the talking.

Both Catra and Adora felt relieved when they finally found their way out of the forest and saw a little town ahead. The grass they'd been walking on turned into a neat dirt path, which seemed to wind its way through the town to a more densely populated city center much farther in the horizon. 

The town was bustling with activity, dozens of magicats in all sorts of colors and fur patterns walking together, delicious and unfamiliar smells wafting from food stands, and children out playing. Several people out in the street stared at them, mostly at Adora for obvious reasons.

"Mommy, where's her ears and tail? Did she cut them off?" A small kitten pointed at her, which made the blonde feel somewhat uncomfortable. Thankfully, the child's mother chastised her for being rude.

Meanwhile, Catra wasn't sure how to feel about seeing a town with so many people that looked like her. She grew up her whole life used to the fact she was the only one of her kind, used to being _different_ , that is until she had her children. She was always proud that they looked like her, proud that they all shared the same quirkiness she was never able to relate to anyone else with. To think there was an entire kingdom of magicats just like them was… to her surprise, very underwhelming. 

Despite everything, whatever she may have expected from finding out that magicats actually existed, she didn't feel any sort of special connection to the people here just because they had cat ears and a tail. They all just seemed like regular people to her. At least so far.

Adora, meanwhile, just thought it was super cool to see a town full of Catra look-alikes. It was like Catra, but like, times one hundred.

They passed through vast rice fields, the farmers hunched over in them tipping back their straw hats to get a good look at the trio. Both Catra and Adora felt like they were animals at the zoo right now, with the way they were being stared at. Melog hung their head low, also feeling Catra's own self-consciousness. 

Eventually they reached a tall, black and red pagoda. The sight of it was almost intimidating. Catra looked up, trying to see just how many levels there were to this tower. Suji whispered something to the other warriors and they broke away, then she led the trio inside.

The interior was… simpler than they both imagined. It was a big open space with what looked like a shrine at the end of the room. The walls seemed to be made of some paper material, while the floor was made of straw intricately woven together. In the center was a low table with cushions on either side, one of the cushions occupied by a sand-colored magicat woman, who wore large, magnificent silk robes. She was sipping on some tea. 

The woman lit up at the sight of Suji as they walked in. "Rei, it's good to see you…" she paused when she noticed the three strangers. "...who are they?"

Suji brought both her hands to her chin and bowed deeply. "My Lord, they are outsiders we found while out on patrol to the southern border. They are mated, one of them of magicat descent and the other… a human. The magicat is clanless."

"Clanless? A rogue?"

She shook her head. "They're both from the outside world, my Lord. She's not from Half Moon."

The woman rubbed her chin, looking highly intrigued. "From the outside world… that is truly a marvel! You two must've traveled a long way to find us here!"

"Yeah, well, it's sort of a long story actually," Adora spoke. The warlord's brows shot straight up while Suji looked at her like she had committed a crime. "Uh… did I do something wrong?" Catra felt her pulse spike, worried her wife may have deeply offended them or something.

The woman broke the tension by bursting out laughing. Adora and Catra just glanced at each other, confused. When her laughter finally died down, her face was flushed red. "They are certainly not from here, that's for sure."

"I apologize for not teaching them our customs, my Lord, I--" the warlord waved her hand dismissively, effectively silencing her. 

"There's no need, Rei. They are outsiders, after all. Come, sit." She motioned for them to join her at the table. "Rei, you too." The warrior nodded and promptly made her way to the table, the trio reluctantly following after her.

They sat cross-legged on the soft cushions, awkwardly glancing at each other as the warlord across from them sipped on her tea peacefully. It was then that her alpha scent became apparent. The warlord had dark brown hair, just barely long enough to be tied into a small ponytail, not anywhere near as impressive as Catra's tied up mane. She had a set of pale green eyes, which seemed to reflect not only warmth but also curiosity through them.

Suji, who was seated next to the warlord, took this moment to remove her mask and helmet, revealing a face marred with scars that Adora found surprisingly attractive. She had straight, jet black hair that just barely touched her shoulders, and a cool, stoic gaze. Her aloof expression was a stark contrast to the warlord's friendly, hospitable aura. 

"Aahh," the warlord sighed contentedly, finishing the last of her tea. "That hits the spot. So… have you two had lunch yet?"

Catra blinked, surprised by the question. "N-no, um, my Lord?" She hoped she was saying that right. When they didn't seem to disapprove, she continued, "We hadn't eaten anything since last night."

"Very well." She snapped a finger and a magicat Catra presumed to be a servant came rushing in to kneel by the warlord's side. "We have guests today. Be sure to double the portions for today's lunch." 

"Yes, my Lord." The servant stood up, bowed, and left the room hastily.

"The servants will be in here shortly to bring us meals, I hope you will enjoy our cuisine." As if on cue, Adora's stomach for some reason believed now was the perfect time to growl extremely loud, the sound echoing through the room. Suji just stared, blinking rapidly, like she could not believe the audacity of this girl. The blonde's cheeks burned with embarrassment, and Catra briefly wondered if her wife was doing this on purpose. 

The warlord, however, giggled hysterically. "You, you," she could barely finish her sentence without breaking out into laughter again. "You are an amusing one!"

 _Well, she certainly has some sense of humour_ , Catra thought. When she heard the word 'warlord' she thought of someone who was serious and unrelenting, someone like her during her time in the Horde. This woman wasn't exactly what she had in mind. With all that said, though, Catra felt at ease around her, her initial nervousness dissolved by the woman's easy-going attitude.

The warlord wiped the tears from her eye, finally settling down. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shi Yen, warlord of the Yen clan which controls this province. And you two are…?"

"Adora Rainbowfist Meowmeow, my Lord," Adora said matter-of-factly. "And this is my wife, Catra Applesauce Meowmeow." She took Catra's hand as if to emphasize her statement. 

Yen chuckled and turned to Catra. "Is it normal in the outside world for omegas to be so outspoken?"

"Is… is it not normal here, my Lord?" Catra asked. Yen shook her head.

"It is not. Omegas have a… let's just say... _low_ place in our society." Adora frowned. Being an omega was hard enough on its own, but to hear that their culture was backwards in that aspect was a little disappointing.

Catra softly caressed Adora's hand with her thumb, as if sensing her thoughts. "I don't mean to offend, but we don't believe omegas are any less deserving of respect than alphas are… my Lord." While Catra tried to remain respectful, she also wanted to make sure she made it very clear where her values lied. 

To her surprise, Yen offered a friendly smile. "Actually, I agree." Just then, a wave of servants entered the room bringing in trays of food, interrupting their conversation. When they set the trays down on the table, Adora's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

All sorts of dishes were laid out, many completely foreign to the two but smelled and looked absolutely delicious. Bowls of some sort of hearty, meaty stew, plates full of freshly grilled fish, various side dishes ranging from pickled vegetables to tofu glazed in rich sauce, and to top it all off several bowls of steaming, hot rice.

Adora's mouth involuntarily started to water at the sight, so much that she was actually drooling. Catra noticed this and propped her wife's chin back up so she wouldn't spill more saliva on the table. She could hardly blame her though, her own empty stomach going absolutely wild at the prospect of devouring this meal.

When the servants finally finished setting down all the food and exited the room, the warlord had an amused grin tugging at her lips. "You two look ready to dig in."

Adora nodded profusely. "Is it okay, uh, my Lord?"

The warlord picked up her pair of chopsticks and bowed before the food. "Let us eat." Suji followed suit and grabbed her chopsticks as well.

Both Adora and Catra had only just now noticed the odd utensils that were in front of them. Catra picked them up, studied the way the other magicats were using them, and attempted to do the same. She got the hang of it fairly quickly, and with a shrug, began to eat.

Adora on the other hand… was having a bit of trouble. She fumbled with the sticks clumsily, occasionally dropping them as she tried to replicate their technique. "Oh! Ah…" she sighed as she dropped them for the third time.

Yen laughed heartily at the blonde's clumsiness. "You may use your hands if you wish."

Adora smiled gratefully, but also felt slightly embarrassed. Nonetheless, she forgot all about it as she stuffed herself with food.

"Does the animal not eat?" the warlord inquired.

"What do you mean? She's eating right now," Catra answered. 

"I mean the cat, not your wife," she clarified.

"Ohh. No, they're magic."

"Ah, I see… anyway. As I was saying, I agree with you, Meowmeow."

"Hm?"

"About omegas and alphas. It's not a very popular belief here, but I don't actually believe that omegas are inherently inferior to alphas. That being said, my position requires me to uphold the beliefs of the majority. I'm quite curious about the outside world and what sorts of customs you have over there… Rei also mentioned you two were mated?"

"That's right. We have four kids."

The magicat smirked. "So you two have been getting busy..." she teased, making the couple blush. "I have kittens of my own as well. Three. Two of them alphas, one omega. They're quite a handful, those three," she chuckles.

Catra shares a mutual smile with the warlord. "Tell me about it. Our kittens get into a lot of trouble, especially our alpha." 

"For me it's the opposite. I know how to deal with my alphas, being one myself, but… it's my omega I have trouble with. You see, my mate is, well… she now resides on the moon."

"On the moon..?"

"It means she has passed away," Suji explained plainly to her.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Catra's ears drooped, feeling a little guilty for bringing up the subject.

"Oh it's fine," Yen assures, her tone completely nonchalant. "I made peace with my mate's passing years ago. It's our daughters I am concerned about. I… don't know exactly how to be a good role model for my omega."

Adora swallowed a mouthful of savory fish and said, "Omegas can be complicated."

"Yes, they are…" Yen agreed. She finished the last of her rice and set her chopsticks down. "Our culture doesn't offer many paths for omegas to take. Between being a housewife, a servant, or a… prostitute, options are slim."

Catra shuddered at the thought of any of her daughters having to choose between such rigid roles, especially prostitution. She felt so grateful that the society they lived in was far more open-minded.

Adora looked almost offended at what the warlord said. She didn't know a culture could be so harsh to omegas, not to this extent. "Well in our world, we omegas play significant roles… I, for one, have this ability to transform into an 8-foot tall buff woman."

Yen cocked a brow, her tail flicking with curiosity. "Oh?"

The blonde grinned smugly. "That's right. I can turn into this warrior princess called She-Ra, and y'know, well, I kinda saved the world. No big deal, uh, my Lord." 

The warlord gazed at her in awe. "Amazing… wow. That sounds incredible! Can you do it right now? Transform to this, um, 'She-Ra'?" Suji turned to the warlord, alarmed.

"My Lord, are you sure? I mean, they're outsiders, it could be dangero--" Yen raised a hand, cutting her off.

"It'll be fine, Rei." She turned to Adora and nodded, giving her the go-ahead. The blonde stood up, took a few steps back from the table so she had plenty of space, and stretched her arm forward. She took a deep breath, clearing her mind so she could concentrate.

"For the honor of Grayskull!" In an instant, the room was engulfed in blinding white light, her explosive voice reverberating throughout the building as she began to transform. When the three were able to open the eyes again, both Suji and Yen's mouths hung agape at the sight of She-Ra's tall, magnificent form.

Catra feels her heart flutter. "It never gets old," she purrs dreamily. 

"You are a lucky woman," Yen whispers breathlessly, green eyes wide with wonder. 

Suji shook her head to break herself out of the trance. "Impressive… for an omega."

"You know what, Rei… I think I like them." 

"My Lord?"

"I like these outsiders! They are welcome to stay in our province as long as they want."

The warrior looked like she wanted to argue, but she relented and bowed respectfully. "Very well, my Lord."

Catra and Adora share a knowing look with each other. Adora raises her sword triumphantly.

"Hell yeah!"

* * *

Somehow or another, Sif and her robot managed to make it to the Crimson Waste without too much trouble. In fact, the way there wasn't nearly as treacherous as the Waste itself, which, while not as crime-infested as it was during the war thanks to Huntara's efforts, was still crawling with shady bandits and a few disorganized gangs. 

Many of the inhabitants of the Waste today were displaced soldiers of the Horde that either had nowhere else to go after the war ended or simply were unable to adjust to regular civilian life. Etherian societies, as accepting as most of them were, weren't suitable for everybody.

Freya had followed Sif a reasonable distance behind, just enough that she wouldn't be able to notice her. The woods thankfully offered plenty of hiding spots, Freya being able to dart behind trees or bushes on the rare occasion that Sif would pull her eyes away from the tracker pad. When they reached the Waste, Freya was at first worried when she saw that there was scarcely any vegetation to hide in. However, they soon found themselves wandering through some sort of small little city built along a huge crevasse. 

The place was definitely seedy, but Sif didn't care. The young alpha was determined to find the magicat kingdom. It was odd, but her moms' position on the tracker pad hadn't moved since this morning, it'd stayed at a fixed location in the exact middle of the Waste. She was still a far way off from them, but she knew her moms would be proud of her when they found that they made it all the way there all by herself. She would earn their praise and they'd finally see that she was a capable alpha, especially Catra. 

Sif, having her eyes glued to the screen of her tracker pad, grunted when she hit something solid and fell back in the sand. Tomo stopped in its tracks and made a series of robotic clicking noises, as if it were asking if she were okay. She shook her head, confused, and noticed two shadows looming over her. She looked up to see two human females, an alpha and omega, standing near her. 

They appeared to be a duo of bandits, their clothes old and tattered and dirt caking their skin. They'd been standing outside of a dilapidated clay building. 

"Oh my, a child," the omega said, her voice soft and silky. "Never seen one around here before. What's your name, sweetie? And what's that little robot you got next to you? Is it your friend?"

Sif scrambled up to her feet, hissing angrily at them. Ears flat against her head, she bared her sharp fangs and extended her claws, doing her best to look intimidating. Sif pushed down the nagging fear bubbling within her and summoned as much bravado as she could, telling herself she wouldn't back out of a fight no matter what.

Tomo took it upon itself to replicate Sif's defensive stance, rising on its metallic haunches and the single light on its 'face' glowing an angry red.

Instead, the omega burst into a fit of high-pitched giggles, leaving Sif bewildered. "Aww she's so cute! Acting so tough but so fuzzy and adorable, oh Zara can we keep her?" the omega cooed.

Sif clenched her fists and growled, furious at her patronizing tone. It reminded her all too well of the way her bullies mocked her at school, only these adults were a lot bigger and scarier than those kids. Despite that, she was determined to stand her ground and show no signs of cowardice.

Off in the distance, Freya had quickly hid behind some dumpsters when she saw Sif run into the two. She strained her feline ears as she tried to listen in on what was going on.

The female alpha, who apparently went by the name Zara, was a tall, lithe woman, slim but incredibly toned. She had wild, messy red hair and stared down at the kitten intensely.

Sif met her gaze with a challenging glare, not daring to show any weakness to the alpha woman, even with their considerable size difference. 

Zara narrowed her eyes. "This alpha's a kitten… and I've only ever seen one other feline on this entire planet before..."

"Wait, now that I think about it, you're right… the ears and the tail… she looks so much like..." the omega paused, taking a moment to study the child's features. "Do you think she's…?"

"I'm almost positive." She took a step forward, Sif instinctively flexing her claws as she did. "Easy. I just want to ask a question."

Sif's bit down a hiss. "What do you want!"

"You're Catra's daughter, aren't you?"

Sif's ears perked up in surprise. She knew her mom? She hesitated before saying, "maybe… so what if I am?"

Zara knelt down so she was eye-level with her. "Where are your parents? Why are you here in the Valley of the Lost by yourself?" Her tone, while serious, was gentle so she could put the kitten at ease. It seemed to work, as Sif retracted her claws and relaxed a little.

"I… it's none of your business. I'm just on a mission to prove myself."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah… I'm… I'm tired of everyone thinking I'm weak. And other kids making fun of me because of who my mom is."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Is that it?" Her lips curled into an insidious smile. "And what do these kids say about your mother, exactly?"

"Well…" Sif trailed off, reluctant to continue. She felt sort of uncomfortable at the idea of divulging in something so personal, especially considering how sensitive the topic was. But… this woman didn't seem too bad so far. It probably wouldn't hurt to tell her. "They call my mom a war criminal."

" _War criminal_ ? Ha!" The woman threw her head back in laughter. "That's _rich_." 

"War criminal, pffft," the omega cackled. "They call anyone a war criminal nowadays."

Sif had only one question on her mind. "How do you know my mom?"

"I used to work for your mom. Both of us served the Horde under her command." The omega nodded, looking proud at the fact. "And we would've fought to the bitter end, had your mother stayed loyal to the cause."

"You… you were in the Horde too? My mom said she did a lot of bad things in the Horde and she regrets them."

Zara chuckled darkly. "Is that what she tells you? Or is that just what she says because the _princesses_ tell her to?"

Sif blinked, confused. "...huh?" The omega behind her propped a hand on her hip and ran a calloused hand through her curly brown hair, glancing down at the kitten.

"What she's trying to say, lil' fuzzball, is that your mom just says all that stuff 'cus she's supposed to. You see, your mom's called a criminal because she happened to be on the 'wrong' side of the war. The truth is, those _princesses_ are just as much criminals as your mom supposedly is. But as we all know, it's the victors who write history," she finished sarcastically, her tone dripping with resentment.

The kitten frowned. "So… mom just says that because she has to? She doesn't mean it?"

The alpha shrugged. "Maybe she means it, maybe she doesn't. But the point is, you shouldn't let those kids make you feel ashamed of who you are or where your mother came from. Your mom was an amazing, fearless leader. We were proud to serve under her."

Sif couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nobody has ever praised her mom like that before. Everyone, including Catra herself, constantly reminded her that her mom's past was something to be ashamed of, a mistake. She never considered the possibility that there was any positive thing to say about past-Catra. 

And yet here this alpha was, confessing her admiration for the woman her mother used to be. 

"Yeah, then everything went to hell after that space ordeal..." the omega glumly muttered. "And now look at us… wandering around, barely scraping by… it sucks. As brutal as the war was, I miss having a purpose. "

Zara straightened, then walked to the edge of the cliff overlooking the rest of the town. "I miss it too. The adrenaline rush. The high stakes. The decisive victories," she paused for a moment, closing her eyes. "Taking what rightfully belonged to us. Putting those filthy sea elves in their place." There was some sort of sick sadism in the undertone of the alpha's voice, but somehow, Sif found herself captivated by her words. The alpha said them with such conviction, so brazen and unapologetic. And Sif was sick of apologizing.

Plus, putting sea elves in their place? Sign her up.

"But best of all," Zara continued, flashing her teeth in a wicked smile, "was the _power_. The kind of power you only get in war. To have so much power over such a weak, pathetic enemy… watching them writhe underneath you after fighting for so long, struggling helplessly… it's exhilarating." 

Sif's eyes dilated with excitement. That sort of power was exactly what she desired. She'd no longer be the weak, spineless kid everyone thought her to be. She'd defy everyone's expectations, make her mother proud, and best of all, she'd make her bullies pay for the things they did to her.

She reveled in the fantasy. 

"Hey kid, how about you come in and meet the rest of our gang? They're all ex-Horde soldiers and I'm sure you'll fit right in."

The omega gasped dramatically. "Zara! Does this mean we're…?" 

The alpha turned to her and flashed a knowing smile. The omega squealed giddily.

Sif hesitated before answering, glancing down at the tracker pad on the ground in front of her. She could continue on her solo mission, or she could take these gangsters up on their offer and potentially make some worthwhile friends along the way. The latter seemed far more appealing. "...sure." 

Tomo made a disapproving buzzing noise, but Sif chose to ignore it. This was her own destiny. 

Freya's eyes were as wide as saucers as she watched Sif enter the building with the two adults. She could hardly believe everything she just heard. _Sif, what are you doing, you big dummy!? Moms always said not to talk to strangers!_

Just as she was about to go after her sister, she heard heavy footsteps pad over next to her. She choked out a gasp only to quickly slam a hand over mouth, silencing herself.

She felt her heart stop when a large figure towered above her. 

"What the… a kid?"

\---

"Hey… hey Glimmer?" Bow called from the other room, startling the princess out of her sleep. She groggily sat up, rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes. She blinked, trying to get used to the bright sunlight shining through the house's patio.

"Glimmer!" Bow called again, this time his voice even more frantic. She heard something loud and heavy drop, jolting her fully awake. With a sigh, she threw off the blanket and headed towards the room Bow was at. 

When Glimmer arrived at the room, Sif's room, her bed was turned over and there was a clutter of mess all over the floor. 

She also noticed that the window was completely open.

"Bow? What's going on? Where's… where's Sif?" Her husband just stared at her, wide-eyed, and she felt a knot of dread in her stomach as the gears in her head started to turn. "Bow. Where. Is. She."

"Freya's gone too," he barely croaked out. "The other two… they don't know where they went." 

Glimmer felt her pulse steadily climb, the building anxiety in her chest threatening to make her lose her cool. "We have to tell Adora and Catra."

To her dismay, Bow shook his head. "We can't. They took my tracker pad." He turned to the window. "They... they must've gone after them."

Glimmer disappeared in a poof of sparkles, and the couple began their desperate search for the two sisters.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I made the magicats basically Asian... Lol sorry, but I'm just more familiar with Asian cultures more because I grew up in Asia ^^
> 
> And Sif really needs to stop making poor decisions... like mother like daughter ;-;


	7. Bravery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things will get worse before they get better.

For the rest of the day, Catra and Adora got to know a lot about the magicats and their customs.

For example, the water at the shrines they visited was _not_ for drinking. Adora learned that the hard way.

They also learned that magicats really liked plays, as Yen and Suji had taken them to a theatre to watch plays for the next several hours. 

It was awe-inspiring at first, with the elaborate costumes and makeup they wore, as well as the spectacular displays of magic that the two had never seen on Etheria before. But as the plays dragged on, they devolved into comedies that they just could not comprehend. 

Yen seemed to have a never-ending supply of explosive laughter, much to Catra's irritation. Every little joke the actors made seemed to trigger an onslaught of giggles from the warlord. Adora, Catra and Melog just sat there with blank expressions, totally unable to understand the cultural inside jokes.

When they finally exited the theatre (much to Catra's relief) the couple realized it was getting a bit late. It would not be long until the sun would set beneath the horizon, so they figured now would be a good time to head back home.

"Oh? Going home already?" Yen asks, glancing back at her as they walk through the town's busy street.

Catra nods. "We want to get back to our kids soon. They don't… particularly do well when left alone too long." She thinks back to the last time she and Adora had a date night together, and how they came home to a totally wrecked house.

"Understandable." They stopped by a small produce shop, then Yen turned to Adora. "Before you two go, may I ask a small favor? From you?"

"Oh, what did you need?" the blonde asks curiously.

"You know how I mentioned my omega daughter earlier? Well, seeing as you can transform into this, 'She-Ra'... I was wondering if you can do that for her, so she can see just how magnificent omegas can be. Just for a moment, if that's okay with you." There is a sincere warmth reflected in the warlord's eyes, and Catra can't help but feel a great deal of respect for the woman.

Adora beamed at the woman proudly. "Sure! Where is the little rascal?" 

"Just around the corner from here, she trains everyday at the dojo." They continue down the street, following the warlord and warrior's lead.

"Training? I thought omegas could only be servants or housewives, though."

"Training for self-defense," Yen explained. "Not many families here can afford it, but my clan is very well off. Self-defense classes for omegas are very much worth it around here, after all I wouldn't want my little girl getting assaulted by some alpha." 

Catra shudders at the idea. "That's a good point. If anyone did that to our daughters, I'd murder them on the spot." Adora hums in agreement.

They finally approach a large, secluded building far from the busy town center, which Catra presumes to be the dojo Yen was talking about. The interior appears to be illuminated, and she can see shadows moving about through the paper screen doors.

They make their way up the steps and Yen slides the door wide open, revealing a large, stocky magicat along with a much smaller and younger magicat, who couldn't be older than six or seven, in the middle of practice. The two stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them, the smaller of the two lighting up and bouncing towards the warlord. 

"Mommy!" Yen knelt down and caught the kitten in her arms, hugging her tightly. Her little head pops out of the warlord's chest and she flashes a toothy smile. "You're early today!"

Yen rustles her child's poofy brown hair and straightens, gesturing to Adora. "That's right, because I brought someone here to see you! An omega that can transform into a powerful warrior!"

The kitten's eyes went wide with amazement. "Wha… really!?" 

Adora stepped forward, her expression oozing confidence. "That's right, kiddo! Don't ever let those stinky alphas that us omegas are weak! We can kick their butts if we want to," she said matter-of-factly.

Catra just rolled her eyes. _Yeah sure, as She-Ra. Even then I've handed your ass to you plenty of times,_ she mused. She glanced to the side and noticed Suji with a deep scowl on her face, clearly offended. 

"Haha, that's the spirit!" Yen bellowed. "I'll leave you two alone for now. Don't let us alphas intrude on your omega bonding time." 

The omega wasted no time bounding up to Adora, tugging at her jacket excitedly. "Wow, so you're really a warrior?"

Adora let out a cocky laugh. "Oh, you haven't seen anything yet." 

As the three alphas step out of the dojo and stand around at the patio, they feel the ground rattle at Adora's booming voice and white light briefly flashes through the screen doors. A high-pitched squeal of delight follows soon afterwards.

Yen chuckled and buried her hand in one of her pockets, rummaging for something. She pulled out a thin pipe, as well as a small little pouch to go with it, which she carefully unraveled revealing a pile of some sort of fine, shredded herb.

She poured some of the herb into the bowl of the pipe and pulled out a box of matches, then set it alight. 

Catra's nose wrinkled at the unpleasant scent, waving away the clouds of smoke with her hand. 

The warlord offered the pipe to her. "You smoke?"

"...smoke? Is that what you call it?"

"Yes. We call it tabako. It helps soothe the nerves."

Catra grabbed the pipe with slight hesitation. She held it awkwardly, unsure exactly how to use it. Shrugging, she brought the mouthpiece to her lips and inhaled deeply. 

"Akh!" Catra coughed violently at the harsh smoke filling her lungs. It leaves a dry, burning sensation in her throat that has her gasping for air. "What- _cough-_ what is this!?"

The warlord threw her head back in laughter. "I told you, it's tabako. I suppose it takes some getting used to."

Even Suji had a small grin on her face. "I've never seen somebody react so badly to it before."

"I don't understand how you can call this _soothing_ ," Catra said with disbelief. 

"Give it another go, I'm sure it won't be as bad," Yen suggested. 

Reluctantly, Catra took another hit from the pipe and, while she still had another fit of coughs, it doesn't feel quite as awful, and in one more puff she found herself able to tolerate it.

"Huh… I guess… it's not so bad."

"That's the spirit!" Yen patted her back encouragingly. Catra passed it back to the warlord, who then passed it off to Suji. "So, how did you like our humble little province?"

"It's been great so far," came Catra's earnest reply. "I can't wait to take the kittens here. They'll love it."

"I'm sure they will! I think they'll quite enjoy meeting others of their own kind. Speaking of which, how was that for you? It can't have been easy growing up without other magicats to relate to."

Catra shrugged. "I used to be curious about where I came from but I sort of just got used to it. Everyone I grew up with were orphans so none of us really had a family." She paused for a moment, staring out wistfully. "But… now that I'm here though, I guess I am curious. Like, why I was abandoned… who my parents were."

"Ah, that is a reasonable thing to wonder indeed. Truthfully, I have no idea how you could've ended up outside of Half Moon. My best guess would be that you were born out of wedlock and abandoned because your mother wanted to avoid dishonouring her family name. It's not… completely unheard of."

"A coward's way out of responsibility," Suji muttered scornfully, passing the pipe back to Yen. "Abandoning a child is more dishonourable than raising a bastard."

The warlord hummed in agreement, a billow of smoke escaping through her nostrils.

Catra stared down at her palms. _I could've had a family_ , she thought. Those old feelings of abandonment from her younger years nearly began to resurface, but she quickly quashed them. Years of therapy had made her much better at dealing with her insecurities. _No, I already have a family. And I'll never let them suffer like I did._

Yen offered the pipe back to Catra and this time, she accepted it gratefully. As the smell of sweet, burnt smoke permeated the humid air between them, Catra gradually relaxed. 

"Have you made a life for yourself, Meowmeow? In the outside world?"

"...Yeah, I have." Catra smiled, looking back on her life and the mistakes she made, and the tremendous progress she's made since then. "It hasn't been easy, but I'm content with the life I have now."

"That's good to hear. Whoever your parents were, I'm sure they'd be proud to see how far you've come."

"You… you think so?"

Yen smiled back at her warmly. "Yes. Why wouldn't they be? We magicats are a stubborn bunch, but we value many things, compassion and courage above all."

"...and loyalty," Suji added. "Loyalty to your clan, to your nation, to your family." She turned to Catra, her gaze unwavering. "I don't understand you outsiders and your strange customs. But the way you treat your mate and speak of your children is… admirable. I cannot say that about many alphas here."

Catra blinked at her, then nodded curtly. "...thank you." She felt a surge of pride at the compliment. It meant a lot coming from alpha to another, so she knew the warrior's words were sincere.

The door to the dojo abruptly slid open and Adora walked out, de-transformed. 

"Phew, alright guys, I think we--" she paused, wrinkling her nose. "Catra? You're… smoking?"

Catra handed the pipe back to Yen, waving the smoke away. "What? No I wasn't."

Adora grinned, folding her arms at her. "...right."

Yen let out a good-natured laugh and patted the alpha's shoulder. "You're alright, Meowmeow. It's been nice getting to know you two, I haven't had this much fun in a while." She turned to Adora. "How was my daughter?"

"A handful, but she's a good kid. I think she has a bright future ahead of her. She seemed really inspired by me."

The warlord smiled triumphantly. "Outstanding! Thank you for this, I am in your debt." She bows before her, prompting Suji to do the same. Adora just blushed, feeling somewhat embarrassed by the gesture. 

"Oh, uh, it's nothing really," she said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just something I do sometimes."

"Pft. Like transforming into a giant warrior princess is not a big deal," Catra scoffed. "Just take the credit where it's due, idiot."

"Right." Adora coughed, then puffed out her chest to resume some level of confidence. "Of course! It was nothing, really." Her wife chuckled and padded by next to her, kissing her cheek.

"You ready to head back?"

"Yup… or, wait… I promised the kids we'd get them souvenirs."

"Oh yeah…" Catra turned to the two magicats in front of them. "Where would we be able to buy some souvenirs?"

"Souvenirs? I know just the place."

\------

After the couple bid farewell to the two magicats, they were promptly teleported out of Half-Moon and back into the Crimson Waste.

Darkness had fallen over the desert, and a gust of wind chilled Catra to the bone.

Adora's bag was filled to the brim with all sorts of trinkets and souvenirs, having gone on a wild shopping spree as soon as she entered the gift shop Yen had brought them to. Items from toys and sweets to cans of seafood were all but contained in her bag and pockets.

Catra was a bit more conservative with her spending, having only bought a few things for each of her daughters. A good luck fortune for Idun, a bunch of snacks for Eir, a doll for Freya, and a wooden sword for Sif.

Catra figured Sif would probably want something like a sword. When she was a young alpha she loved playing with toy weapons, as they engaged her fighting instinct. Of course, it also got her into a lot of trouble and Adora would often have to drag her out of conflicts with Shadow Weaver and the other cadets.

But that wasn't the only reason. Suji had also suggested she get her a sword so the kitten would have more courage. She had told her about Sif and how she had struggled with bullies, so Suji told her about how young magicat warriors would train with wooden swords to instill strength and discipline before being granted a steel one once they became full-fledged warriors. 

The wooden sword wasn't just for her to fight, but to also teach her to be brave. And Catra wanted nothing more for her little kitten than to stand up for herself. 

"Hey Catra, I was thinking," Adora suddenly said.

"You were thinking? That's unusual of you," Catra joked.

Adora elbowed her wife in the gut. "As I was saying. Um…" she trailed off, a little unsure if she should continue. "So like. What if we had another litter?"

Catra stopped in her tracks, the blonde taking a second to realize before looking back at her. 

"Uh… Catra?"

"You want even more kittens?" Melog next her drooped their ears, mirroring Catra's unease. "Isn't… isn't four enough, Adora?"

The blonde frowned, a little upset but also not really surprised her mate would react this way. Catra was extremely apprehensive when they had their first litter (despite being aroused by Adora being pregnant _in concept_ ) and only really came around to the idea when she was close to giving birth, so it wasn't unusual for her to be nervous at the idea of having even _more_. 

Still though, Adora liked the idea of having more kittens. As long as Catra would go along with it, and she had a feeling she would eventually. She just had to do some convincing. 

"I mean, what's four more?"

"' _What's four more'_ are you kidding me, Adora? The kittens we have are stressful enough as is! You really wanna have a house full of rowdy children _and_ a bunch of screaming kits!?"

Adora sighed. Maybe she was right. The idea was dumb. But she'd been thinking on it for a while, and spending time with the warlord's daughter today only solidified her desire. 

Just as Adora was about to argue, her tracker pad started beeping. She scrambled to pull the tablet from her disorganized bag, gritting her teeth in frustration at all the other junk mixed inside. When she finally retrieved it, she turned the screen on to check the notification.

"What… oh, Bow and Glimmer are trying to patch us through." Catra walked over next to her, watching as she hit the answer button.

To the couple's surprise, neither Bow nor Glimmer were on the other end.

"Huntara?"

"Blondie, hey, sorry we have to see each other again in such dire terms, but we have a situation here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on? Why do you have Bow's tracker pad? How did it end up all the way to the Crimson Waste?"

"I was just getting to that, okay? Your kits, uh, they're… they're here, and one of them's in… in critical condition."

Catra's stomach dropped, Huntara's voice drowning out as her mind tried to process what she just said. Her kits? Her kits were here? Why weren't they at home? How did Bow and Glimmer lose them? One of them was hurt? 

What happened?

Her own voice barely registered in her mind as she yelled it out, silencing the two in front of her.

"Hey, calm down--"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Catra shouted furiously, startling Adora. Melog's mane turned bright red, roaring just as loudly. "Those are our kids you're talking about! What happened to them!?"

"Catra, she was just explaining," said Adora, trying to keep her voice steady. While she too could barely contain her own anxiety, she knew she had to keep her mind focused if they were going to rescue their kids.

But there was no mistaking that she was just as ready to rip someone's throat out.

"Yeah, so I was saying, we're in the Valley of the Lost and while we took care of the bandits, your alpha kitten is badly hurt. Boy and Glitter are here too. I've sent you my coordinates, there isn't any time to waste."

"Okay, okay," Adora nodded, grabbing the coordinates on screen and placing them on the map. "We're on our way, we'll be there as fast as we can." As soon as she ended the call, Catra dug her claws into her scalp and shouted into the sky.

"FUCK, Adora!" The blonde was bombarded with her wife's pheromones, rage mixed with worry and protectiveness. "This was a mistake! We never should've come here!"

"Catra, get a hold of yourself!" She grabbed her shoulders, trying to placate her with her own comforting scent. "We have to be there for them."

Catra took a deep breath, doing as best she could to calm down her nerves. Then, she met Adora's blue eyes and nodded. "Let's go."

They both mounted themselves on Melog and set off towards the Valley of the Lost, a million thoughts racing through their minds.

\--------

_Earlier that day…_

"Wow, so you're Catra's kid, huh? So that's what she's been up to since the war ended," the male alpha laughed deeply, ruffling Sif's hair. She growled in annoyance.

"Who can blame her? I've had a ton of bastards since the Horde disbanded. Pretty sure we all went wild when we got off the suppressants," a female alpha murmured. "Probably got a whole bunch of litters by now, for all I care."

"Speak for yourself," the male huffed. "I was never dumb enough to take those suppressants. I know how to control my urges."

Sif flicked her tail absent-mindedly, barely able to follow what these adults were blabbering on about. 

After she followed the strange alpha and omega into the building, which turned out to be a shabby-looking bar, she was introduced to the dozen or so gang members inside and was eager to be inducted into their social group.

Most of them were alphas, like her, and they all spoke of her mother fondly. They all seemed strong and confident, which she admired. To think that they were willing to accept her despite being much smaller gave her a surge of hope.

She'd never had friends before, so this was all just so exciting.

Zara came by with a mug of beer and sat down next to her at their table, smiling down at the young alpha.

"So kid, how are you liking it here?"

"It's awesome," Sif responded. "I think you're all way better than the kids at school." Tomo retorted at her with several robotic noises, which Sif quickly hushed. She didn't need its criticism right now.

"Hah, I bet." She took a sip from her glass, wiping her top lip when she finished.

The male alpha across from her asked, "You sure you really wanna recruit this kid, Zara? Sure we're low on members, but she's just… so young."

The woman shrugged. "Why not? We know what it's like training up kids from infancy. This isn't that different."

"I guess…" he scratched his head, not really convinced. 

"I'm not too young," Sif spoke up, trying to sound as assertive as she can. "I'm strong. I can handle whatever you guys throw at me." 

"You sure about that, kid?" the other female alpha asked, smirking. 

"Yeah." Sif bared her sharp fangs and extended her claws, trying to look intimidating. The alpha just laughed. 

"You got a funny one, Zara. I think I like this kid."

Sif frowned, unsure if the woman was being sarcastic or not. Whatever, she was gonna prove herself one way or another.

The door to the bar suddenly opened and a large, beast-like man walked inside, dragging a small child in with him.

The four at the table turned to them and Sif immediately felt a chill run down her spine when she realized who just came in. The little girl that angrily struggled against him was none other than her sister Freya. 

_Why is she here!? Did she follow me all the way to this place!? I told her I was going to do this on my own!_

The man shoved her forward to Zara, and it was then that the two kittens finally met each other's gaze.

Freya looked absolutely terrified. She shared a pleading look with her sister, and while Sif was still somewhat angry at her for following her here, she couldn't help worry about the implications of Freya being caught by these gangsters.

"What do you got here, Roy?" Zara asked, eyeing the trembling kitten up and down.

"Found her near the dumpsters. All by herself."

Zara's eyes flicked from Freya back to Sif, and she quickly made the connection. "This is your sister, isn't she, Fuzzball?"

Sif stared down at the floor, unwilling to admit the truth.

Zara chuckled darkly and shot the beast-man a toothy grin. "Well, well, to think we've got an omega here, too…" She reached out her arm and brought her palm to Freya's cheek, rubbing it sensually. The kitten flinched uncomfortably.

Sif bristled wildly at the way she touched her sister, rage steadily building as her instincts screamed at her to protect her. Sure, Freya was a pain in the ass, but she was _family_.

And there was just something _deeply_ unsettling about the way Zara looked at her. Something about it wasn't right.

"She can fetch a pretty hefty price, don't you think?" Zara said, moving her hand to pet one of Freya's ears. "Young omegas are worth a lot on its own… but a rare one too? A feline omega will bring in some good coin."

"That's what I was thinking, Boss. What do you suggest we do with her?"

"We pawn her off, of course," she said bluntly. Sif watched with wrath as she continued to lower her hand down Freya's shaking body, clenching her hands into tight fists. "But first, we should probably break her in."

The young alpha let out a crazed snarl as she finally lost it and pounced at the woman, slashing her claws through her side and sending her stumbling away in pain.

Zara quickly regained her footing, eyes shooting daggers into the kitten as she winced at the scratches. "What the hell!? The fuck is wrong with you!?"

"Stay away from her!" she spat. Tomo maintained a defensive position in front of her, poised to attack as well. "You're not selling my sister!"

The other alphas quickly surrounded Sif, but it did nothing to deter the alpha's explosive rage. In fact, it only fueled it, stoking the flame inside her as adrenaline coursed through her veins. 

"You clearly don't know anything about the Crimson Waste, kid. If you wanna be a part of our gang, you have to accept _us_ as your new family! Whatever life you lived before doesn't matter here!"

"It matters to me!" Sif shouted defiantly, scraping her feet's claws into the ground. "I don't want to be a part of your family if you're going to hurt her!"

Freya felt pure terror grip through her, knowing full well that there was no way Sif could take on all these grown alphas. The man's grip on her was as hard as steel, there was absolutely no way out of this situation. Tears started to flow down her cheeks. 

They never should have come here. She should have stopped Sif from leaving. Then they wouldn't be in this mess.

"You've made a grave mistake," Zara deadpanned.

Before she knew it, Sif had launched herself at the gangsters, and she was getting torn apart.

The robot was the first to go, doing its best to drive itself in between Sif and her attackers before being utterly destroyed and tossed to the side. 

And when Tomo was gone, Sif stood no chance.

Freya was forced to watch in painful agony as her sister was nearly beaten to death, guilt eating away at her with the realization that she had caused all this. 

Just as she was about to give up all hope, she heard the man grunt behind her and his grip went slack, falling to the floor with a thud. In the next instant, a puff of pink sparkles flashed before her and she caught a glimpse of her aunt Glimmer rip her way through the rest of the gangsters, taking them out one by one. 

She nearly fainted in shock before a firm, but gentle hand caught her, looking up and recognizing her uncle Bow. 

"It's okay, I got you," he reassured her, his voice calming her down somewhat. 

After Glimmer finished taking care of the thugs, Freya saw her drop down to her knees over Sif's broken body. She brought her fingers down to her neck, checking for a pulse, then carefully picked the girl up, walking over to them with a grim expression.

Bow gasped and covered his mouth in shock. Freya felt her heart sink in her chest at the sight of her sister, bruised, bloody and unconscious in Glimmer's arms. 

"Boy, Glitter, we took care of the--oh," the large, purple woman stopped in her tracks, and went silent, having walked in on a somber moment.

Glimmer finally looked up, tears streaming her face. "She's… alive. Barely. We have to get her to a doctor, Huntara. Is there any sort of clinic or hospital or _anything_ here?"

"Y-yes," she stammered out, quickly motioning towards the door. There's a doctor here I trust. We have to hurry."

As they rushed out of the bar to wherever Huntara was taking them, Freya couldn't keep her eyes off her sister. Her sister who had risked her life to save her, and might potentially die because of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while! I've been drawing a lot of fanart lately. Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the story :)


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